Please note: this is a final draft version of the manuscript, published in the book Rituals and Traditional Events in the Modern World (2014). Edited by Jennifer Laing and Warwick Frost. Part of the Routledge Advances in Event Research Series: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415707367/ Layers of passage: The ritual performance and liminal bleed of the Beltane Fire Festival, Edinburgh Ross Tinsley (a) Catherine M Matheson (b) a – HTMi, Hotel and Tourism Management Institute Switzerland, 6174 Soerenberg, Kanton Luzern, Switzerland T: +41 (0) 41 488 11 E: rtinsley@htmi.ch b – Division of Business, Enterprise and Management, School of Arts, Social Sciences and Management, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, Queen Margaret University Drive, Musselburgh, East Lothian EH21 6UU T: +44 (0) 131 474 0000 E: cmatheson@qmu.ac.uk