THE CHARACTERS :
THE MAY QUEEN
– It is known that our forefathers very generally kept the beginning of May as a great festival, and it is still regarded as the trysting time of witches, i.e. once of wise-women and fays. The May Queen is known by other names - The Maiden, Goddess of Spring, Flower Bride, Queen of the Faeries and Lady of the Flowers. The May Queen is the stillness around which everything revolves. She embodies purity, strength and the potential for growth. She is the personification of the earth’s energy. In medieval Robin Hood plays The May Queen was Maid Marian and in May games she is the young village girl with a blossom crown who is attended by children bearing garlands and wearing white dresses. Folklorists associate her both with Flora, the Roman goddess of fruits and flowers whose festival, the Floralia, was on April 28th and Maia, Roman 'Goddess of Springtime, of Growth and Increase' whose very name may be the root of 'May'.
THE GREEN MAN 
- The May Queen's male Consort is sometimes simply called the May King, but is known by many names - Jack-in-the-Green, Robin Hood or the woodland faery Puck - Robin Goodfellow. In France he is Father May, in Russia he is the Little Leaf Man. He may also be called Green George, Wild Man or Wodewose.
In all places and times he was dressed in leaves, in ivy, evergreens and flowers, hidden entirely from view, a living spirit of the spring plant life. 'The Green Man', is a name coined in 1939 by Lady Raglan. She referred to the mediaeval images, carved in stone or wood and usually found in churches of a face with foliage sprouting from the mouth, nose and ears or a face composed entirely of leaves. The Beltane Green Man is dormant and inactive until 'he dies' at the hands of the Handmaidens who tear his garments from him - then he is 'reborn' with a wild exhilarating dance that celebrates his youth and the new summer.
WHITE WOMEN 
- The procession is led by the May Queen and her entourage: four Handmaidens (north, south, east and west) and a legion of White Warrior Women. The Handmaidens and White Women protect the May Queen and attend to her later in the evening in her otherworldly bower. They are the order and discipline to the red mens' chaos and misrule. White Women encompass many aspects of warriors, they provide an army of strength and protection to encircle and ensure the safety of the court at Beltane. Each White Woman is a part of a well-oiled machine, confident and unfaltering in her role, each a heartbeat, part of the rhythm of the ritual. By the time the year reaches it's end at Samhuinn, the White Women have shed their stoic, rigid front, after a summer of being wooed by The Red Men, they have aged to reflect the Hag aspect of the goddess, the Cailleach. They emerge dressed in shawls and bonnets and sing a lament to mourn the passing of summer, but it is also an affirmation of the year to come when they will once more be reborn with the strength to play their part in securing the cycle of the seasons.
THE BLUE MAN :grandpa: - The blue paint refers to the woad used by Celtic warriors, but the Blue Man himself has come to act as the elder rather than the warrior archetype in Edinburgh's Beltane Fire Festival. His role is both practical and spiritual. Queens come and go, the King is killed and reborn each year, but the Blue Man is constant. He keeps the collected wisdom of the Court, the knowledge of the ritual, and maintains the order nature requires. He leads the Court through a spiritual landscape primed with pitfalls to see the summer safely brought about with the death - and subsequent rebirth - of the Green Man. Those who play the part of blue men carry out a similar role in real life during the run up to the events. They visit each of the performance groups in turn to explain the rituals and the narrative of the performance. They offer support and guidance to both organisers and performers alike and encourage all involved to focus on the task ahead.
PROCESSIONALS :marchingb -From the first strike of stick on skin at the beginning of the procession, to the final frenzy at the Bonfire, the Processional Drummers of Beltane characterize the ritual space itself. Even those who cannot see the action are moved to pulse of the massed drummers. Drumming is one of the oldest known methods of obtaining trance states, altering consciousness to allow a glimpse of the divine, and so it is at Beltane - holding thousands entranced as the magical procession makes its way around the hill. Their rhythm represents the passing of time, the cycle of seasons and the underlying pulse of life itself. The processional drummers also take the appearance of the masked winter court drummers at Samhuinn, their thunder echoes around the walls of the Old Town announcing the arrival of the dark days. The summer revellers run in terror as the host approaches to claim the year as their own. They engage in a battle of noise with the summer court musicians as the winter and summer kings do battle with fireballs and broadswords.
Please continue to part 3 if you would like to complete the character information.
