It’s Beltain! The ancient Celtic festival celebrated at the beginning of summer, and possibly even the origins of May Day. We celebrated this wonderful festival with an afternoon and evening of music, mead, merriment, and of course, the spectacular burning of our 40ft wickerman. Here’s to good company and sunny days!

This year’s wickerman was a bright-eyed, Stone Age stargazer to celebrate our journey building the neolithic Wyke Down reconstruction. Whilst it always feel bittersweet to see our wickerman up in flames, this giant’s presence overlooking our Wyke Down site this Beltain feels like a good omen for the future of our building.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this wonderful event! To everyone who joined us, to all our visitors and volunteers and supporters here, thank you for making things like this possible.

Stay tuned here for some of our favourite pictures from the event!

relive the magic

Watch the full commemorative video on Butser Plus for as little as £2.99!

beltain celtic fire festival 2024 photo gallery

WITH ALL OUR THANKS

We are a small team from a small museum, and Beltain is an incredibly ambitious event for us to hold each year — one only made possible by an incredible number of wonderful people working very hard.

To all our staff and volunteers, thank you for your tireless work in preparing for and running this event! To the Friends of Butser Ancient Farm for your wonderful support, thank you.

To the Saxons of Herigeas Hundas, the Romans of Butser IX Legion, the ancient musicians of Here Be Flagons, to all the other reenactors and living history practitioners who helped bring our ancient farm to life, and to everyone who turned up in costume — thank you.

To the iconic Feckless who always gets us up and dancing, to the brilliant bards of Fae as Folk, to the energetic Courtiers, to the dynamic duo of the Folk Bus, to the the song-master Damh the Bard, to the beautiful sounds of Liz Overs, to the endlessly energetic Pentacle Drummers, and to the classic Ukes of Hazard, thank you for your wonderful performances.

To Jen Atkinson, Kit Helme, Jon Wylie, Tom Bird and Martin Green, thank you for your wonderful talks on herbs, cunning women, singing, dying, foraging and archaeology. To Beltane Border Morris, Flying Iron, the Bowmen of Petersfield, Steamship Circus, Ostara the Bubble Fairy, Jez Smith, and Eva Greenslade, thank you for your work offering unique and incredible performances and experiences, from handfasting to axe throwing to archaeoacoustics.

To Neil Burridge, Corn Dollies by Brigid, Joe the Smithy, Craig the Saxon Forager, Fergus Milton, Jim Clift, and everyone from Colchester Historical Society and the Ancient Wessex Network, thank you for your wonderful demonstrations of ancient crafts and metalworking.

To Jonathon Huet and Dawn Nelson, thank you for bringing such magic with your wonderful stories.

To HantsAstro for your interesting and interactive stall, thank you. To Chalice Mead, Three Copse, the Whitelands Project, Langham Brewery, Mr Whiteheads, and Blackmoor Estate, thank you for supplying us — whether that’s with mead, local greenery, or our very own unique Beltain Cider!

To craftsfolk and traders Butser Crafts, Feral Fibres, the Wood Beyond the World, Intelligent Hand, Pixie Made, the Special Branch, Kevan Dyne, Silverstrand Jewellery, Chris Page Design, Minerva Crafts, Wesnet Services, Pipers Honey, Wild Willow, Luna Skies Creations, Hare and Tabor, Finn’s Fire and Woodcarving, Woody Wonders Twig Pencils, Haus of Paint, Tangled Muses, the Special Branch, Gina McAdam, Amongst the Gorse, Fantastical Kingdoms, Woolleymamma Leather, Willow and Crafts, Petal and Plume, and Gwen’s Garden — thank you!

To Crêpe Britain, Matt with the hog roast, Earth to Oven, the Cookhouse Street Food, Eden Eats, Off Grid Espresso, Stable and Ground, and Sharon and Wendy of the Butser Bakes stand, thank you for all your work to feed everyone!

To friends unnamed but not forgotten, thank you.

And finally, to our supporters on Butser Plus, to our visitors, and to you 💚