Edinburgh's Beltane Fire Festival 2013 to mark summer

The annual event celebrates an ancient Celtic festival

Thousands of people are expected to flock to watch the annual pagan-inspired Beltane Fire festival in Edinburgh later.

The event on the capital's Calton Hill, marks the beginning of summer and celebrates an ancient Celtic festival.

Organised by the Beltane Fire Society, the event includes a torchlight procession, drummers and acrobats.

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

Originally, the festival was free and only lightly stewarded, however, as it grew in popularity, due to the capacity of the hill, funding requirements, and Edinburgh City Council requests, the event has in recent years moved to being ticketed.