HAVE we reached peak pagan? To Celtic spiritual questers that would be a dispiriting question. The assumption behind it is that, having built paganism up, now it is time to knock it down.

It’s the way of the modern world. Even the trendiness behind the question will have to fade when we reach peak peak. It will have become a cliche.

Paganism has both suffered and benefited from cliches. But we all know now that a witch isn’t all bad, or even any bad, and that a Wiccan is something similar or different, though still to do with nature, and that it’s all fine when it’s Celtic, but not Nordic, with its vaguely odious Odinists and their recreation of historic horrors, the Vikings (revisionists, begone!).

One thing for sure is that fey Celtic yearning will never go away and, in its pagan guise, celebrations of that impulse come to a peak this week with the annual Samhuinn Fire Festival in Edinburgh, that least of Celtic places.

Tomorrow night, the po-faced Royal Mile will wince uncomfortably as a river of drum-fuelled dancers with painted faces and pointy ears writhe aboot in an ecstasy of organised abandon.

It’s billed as the country’s “most spectacular Hallowe’en night event” and is now a semi-official fixture in the capital’s calendar, such have been the inroads of paganism into the mainstream.

Samhuinn celebrates the Celtic New Year, marking the end of summer (what summer?) and welcoming the onset of winter. It’s a time to get gregarious with elemental spirits as the Cailleach, a representation of the Divine Hag – aye, her – oversees the battle for control of the seasons.

The veil draws thin between the worlds, this one – the rubbish one – and the world of spirit, which doesn’t sound much better, if we’re being honest.

Groups taking part in the procession, which starts at West Parliament Square, include Cailleachan, dancers whose bodies are “instruments for the goddess”; the Ignis Drummers, whose pounding rhythms warn of the approaching cold and darkness; Guth Nam Marbh (Voice of the Dead), a singing group bringing a Gaelic dimension to proceedings; Obsidian, an acrobatic fire group aligned with the strength of ice (not sure what I’m talking about now); and Reds, “elemental creatures of chaos, misrule, fun and excess” who sacrifice themselves deliriously that the cycle of life might turn.

Well, it’s nice to have a hobby. All this is unticketed – it’s pagan-as-you-go – and, as many thousands come to watch, it’s advisable to bag a good viewing spot, though perhaps you can waddle along in its wake as well.

The procession doesn’t go far, certainly compared to days of yore, since when I fear the forces of light and darkness were both defeated by the cooncil.

Apart from all which, it’s a spectacular affair, with stunning performances by volunteers in what is essentially a community arts performance, only one with a deeper meaning for those and such as those.

At the very least, regardless of the imagination and fantasy needed to make it come alive, Samhuinn connects us in a new way to old ways of looking at the world, and reminds us that peak summer has passed.

The Samhuinn Fire Festival starts at 9pm tomorrow at West Parliament Square, near St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh.