Last week we went to the Beltane festival on Calton Hill, Edinburgh. It’s a modern re-invention of the ancient Gaelic celebration, which welcomes in the summer on the eve of the first day of May. It wasn’t a particularly warm night (this was, after all, the top of a hill, in scotland, on the last day of April) — I was just about comfortable in 2 layers of clothing and a jacket — but quite a few of the performers were wearing nothing more than a layer of body paint for the whole 4 hour duration. Eek!