Edinburgh hosts largest cultural event in the world

It’s not often I find myself in Scot­land at the right time—festival time that is! August is the main festival month in Edinburgh and a time when the majority of the city’s residents like to head out of town and out of the path of the thousands of descending tourists. As a previ­ous resident, however, I loved the festive atmosphere and attended as many events as possible. Now that I find myself back in Scotland for the summer, it’s time to reconnect with both the city and festival...The name is itself a bit of a misno­mer, as what we call the Edinburgh Festival is in fact a collective term for many festivals which take place in the summer. These festivals are unrelated to each other, and put together by different organizers. Yet to us visitors they are many sides of what is the largest annual cultural event in the world.

You may ask, what are these dif­ferent festivals? The largest are the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. But there is also the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the Edinburgh Art Festival, and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo; plus a host of smaller event that take place during the period June to September.

The ‘main’ Edinburgh Interna­tional Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe—which is sort of the scruffy little brother with affordable prices and street events, and which has over the decades become a career starting point for many perform­ers—run from August 3 to 27. It is for these two festivals that the majori­ty of visitors flock to Edinburgh at this time of year. The other festi­val, which is guaranteed to be sold out and is a huge tourist attraction, the Royal Edinburgh Military Tat­too, runs from August 3 to 25. This year the Tattoo has the slogan ‘The Sky’s the Limit’, embracing Scot­land’s Year of Young People. This is, as the name suggests, a spectac­ular show of military talent. Not a demonstration of military force a.k.a Pyongyang or Beijing, but a display of the talents of military bands, military animals (dogs, hors­es), and all things military from around the world. The sight and sounds of Scottish bagpipes and the nightly colorful fireworks displays are regular and much loved features of the Tattoo.

The Edinburgh International Fes­tival is not a recent affair. It was first held in 1947 with the idea of pro­viding ‘a platform for the flowering human spirit’ by bringing people and artists together from different countries. Rudolf Bing, an Austri­an impresario who had fled Nazi Germany, was supported by Henry Harvey Wood of the British Council, and the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Sir John Falconer, and thus Edin­burgh became home to this unique event. During the first festival, eight uninvited theater groups turned up, which spawned the Festival Fringe, which has now in turn developed its own unique footprint and followers. The same year, the forerunner of the International Film Festival was born, followed shortly by the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

Today audiences can see theater, music, comedy, acrobatics, mime, opera performances, and much, much more (in 2017 the Fringe alone saw 53,232 performances of 3,398 shows in 300 venues). Shows run from early morning to late at night. But be warned—the later the hour the more raunchy the performance. Think Pussy Riot and the like! But there is also plenty for children during the day time.

For example, free street per­formances have always been a major feature of the festival, add­ing to the carnival like atmosphere prevailing through the Old Town, Royal Mile and around university buildings. The finale of the festival is an impressive 30-minute fireworks display lightening up the impos­ing vista of the castle which looks down, like a custodian, on the city below. This is Edinburgh at its best. For further information https://www.eif.co.uk