Edinburgh's Beltane Fire Festival 2011 marks summer

The annual event celebrates an ancient Celtic festival

Thousands of people turned out to watch the pagan-inspired Beltane Fire Festival in Scotland's capital.

The annual event on Edinburgh's Calton hill, symbolises the beginning of summer and celebrates an ancient Celtic festival.

Organised by the Beltane Fire Society, the festival included a torchlight procession, drummers and acrobats.

Since its modern beginnings in the 1980s, the festival has grown to involve about 300 performers.