Edinburgh has dusted itself off after the madness that is the August festivals.
However, never a city to rest on its laurels, it is prepping for the next festival already.
The Scottish International Storytelling Festival, which kicks off tomorrow, is the penultimate festival in the city’s year-round offering and is the world’s finest feast of traditional storytelling.
The festival is a 10-day celebration of live storytelling and
oral traditions and, with its final weekend marking the ancient Celtic New Year of Samhain this year, it provides the perfect occasion for a distinctly spooky Halloween trip to the capital.
A DARK PAST
Edinburgh is renowned for many reasons – the castle, Holyrood Palace, its great dining scene, that rather “distinct” hoppy aroma and, of course, its festivals.
But let’s not forget, Auld Reekie has a dark past and is regarded widely as one of Europe’s most haunted cities. From a headless spectral drummer reputed to walk the castle’s iconic battlements to the much-feared Mackenzie poltergeist which in recent times has turned a small tomb in Greyfriars Cemetery into a lair of malevolent paranormal activity.
Oh yes, Edinburgh is undoubtedly the perfect location for a Halloween weekend. For those who dare, a raft of ghostly gatherings await as part of the final weekend of this year’s Scottish International Storytelling Festival.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31 – ALL HALLOWS’ EVE,
THE NIGHT OF SAMHAIN
Haunted Tales of Old Edinburgh, Museum of Edinburgh, 2pm-3pm
Royal Mile storyteller Calum Lykan captures some gruesome and spooky moments from Auld Reekie, past and present.
The Coming of the Unicorn and other Tales of Wonder, Scottish Storytelling Centre, 4pm-4.50pm
Linda Williamson has been gathering stories and ballads of wonder since before she travelled with her late husband, Duncan Williamson, a master storyteller of Scotland’s travelling people and of the Wonder Tales. Encounter magical creatures and transforming imagination in a session set to delight the wise heart in everyone.
Exclusive! Edinburgh’s Underground Vaults, Blair Street Underground Vaults, 4pm-5.15pm
Hear the authentic history of the underground. This is your chance to visit the Blair Street Underground Vaults, exclusively available with Mercat Tours. Explore the deepest, largest and most extensive vaults in the city while in the company of a Mercat historian.
Why were the vaults built? Who used them? Recount the history of the vaults, recall their stories and have your questions answered.
Halloween Hearth, Scottish Storytelling Centre, 8pm-9.30pm
Join storytellers and musicians from Scotland and around the world in a relaxed traditional hearth session, as the darkness closes in and the embers glow with pictures in the fire. Outside, the wind rustles in the darkness and the shadows creep closer in this special evening event for Samhain.
Halloween fright fest not your thing? Fret not, The Scottish International Storytelling Festival has a raft of non-spectral-related events to offer those who wish to explore what is distinctive and special about Scotland.
Once Upon a Place
This festival programme celebrates Edinburgh’s reputation worldwide as a city bursting with culture, as well as being the world’s first Unesco-designated City of Literature.
Through a series of events, ceilidhs, landscape tours and specially commissioned performances, Edinburgh is brought to life as a city of story as it looks into the past and gazes into the future through the dreams, imaginings and visions of the poets and bards.
The festival’s beautifully diverse series of events will take place throughout the city, inhabiting venues big and small, from the festival’s home, the magical Storytelling Centre, to the National Museum of Scotland. Even the city’s spooky underground vaults will play host to festival events, giving festivalgoers the chance to experience familiar venues in a really distinctive way.
MEANWHILE, A LITTLE CLOSER TO HOME . . .
As part of a series of Storytelling Festival events taking place outside of the capital city, two of Scotland’s most celebrated storytellers – Tom Muir, from Orkney, and Lawrence Tulloch, from Shetland – will present a night of exceptional stories from the Northern Isles.
The free event will be held at the Linklater Rooms (adjacent to Elphinstone Hall) at the University of Aberdeen next Tuesday, October 28. For more information, e-mail jude@judehendersonpr.com
The Scottish International Storytelling Festival runs from tomorrow 24th October to November 2. For further information on this, and Edinburgh’s additional 11 festivals, visit www.edinburghfestival city.com