Beltane is a Celtic word which means 'fires of Bel' (Bel was a Celtic
deity). It is a fire festival that celebrates of the coming of summer
and the fertility of the coming year.
Celtic festivals often tied in with the needs of the community. In
spring time, at the beginning of the farming calendar, everybody would
be hoping for a fruitful year for their families and fields.
Beltane rituals would often include courting: for example, young men and
women collecting blossoms in the woods and lighting fires in the
evening. These rituals would often lead to matches and marriages, either
immediately in the coming summer or autumn.
Other festivities involved fire which was thought to cleanse, purify and
increase fertility. Cattle were often passed between two fires and the
properties of the flame and the smoke were seen to ensure the fertility
of the herd.
Today Pagans believe that at Beltane the God (to whom the Goddess gave
birth at the Winter Solstice) achieves the strength and maturity to
court and become lover to the Goddess. So although what happens in the
fields has lost its significance for most Pagans today, the creation of
fertility is still an important issue.
Emma Restall Orr, a modern day Druid, speaks of the 'fertility of our personal creativity'. (Spirits of the Sacred Grove,
pub. Thorsons, 1998, pg.110). She is referring to the need for active
and creative lives. We need fertile minds for our work, our families and
our interests.
Fire is still the most important element of most Beltane celebrations
and there are many traditions associated with it. It is seen to have
purifying qualities which cleanse and revitalise. People leap over the
Beltane fire to bring good fortune, fertility (of mind, body and spirit)
and happiness through the coming year.
Although Beltane is the most overtly sexual festival, Pagans rarely use
sex in their rituals although rituals often imply sex and fertility. The
tradition of dancing round the maypole contains sexual imagary and is
still very popular with modern Pagans.
This year, Beltane is Thursday, May 1st.
This year, Beltane is Thursday, May 1st.
Lore:
May is the time of fertility and
new beginnings after a long winter. The Faeries are afoot! They dance in
the hills and roll in the grass, reveling in the joy of warm May
breezes. Our spirits are high with the lust and heartiness of spring.
New life is stirring and appetites are keen. -Laurie Cabot, Celebrate the Earth
In Celtic tradition, the two greatest festivals of the solar year are Samhain and
Beltane, celebrations of death and rebirth, respectively. Love is in
the air at Beltane. In our rituals, we celebrate the union between the
Great Mother and her young Horned God. Their coupling brings fresh new
life on Earth. Some form of this Great Rite is enacted on this sabbat in
nearly every modern pagan circle. The Great Rite symbolizes the sacred
marriage, or sexual union, of the the Lord and Lady. Often the rite is
performed symbolically by a male and female who place a knife (a phallic
symbol) into a chalice (a female or yonic symbol). In Old Europe, whole
villages would celebrate May Day by slipping away into the woods for
indiscriminate sexual encounters. Any children conceived during this
occasion were known as "merry-begots" and were considered children of
the gods. These "greenwood marriages" were acts of sympathetic magick
believed to have a positive effect on their crops, animals, and
themselves. (In this age of AIDS and other sexually transmitted
diseases, however, we must exercise responsibility -- by means of safe
sex, monogamy, or even abstinence. Use your better judgment.)
Crop fertility was a strong theme
at this sabbat. Besoms were ridden hobbyhorse-style through fields by
women in symbolic fertility rites. Menstruating women ran and danced
naked in the newly-sown fields. Cows were led to the fields to calve,
and ritually consecrated chalices of sheep's blood and milk were poured
on the crops, as were ashes from the balefire.
Herbs: All-heal,
blessed thistle, broom, curry, daffodil, dogwood, coriander, dragon's
blood reed, fern, fireweed, nettle, flaxseed, hawthorn, marjoram,
paprika, radish, rue, snapdragon, mushroom, almond, meadowsweet, rose,
woodruff, tansy, elder leaves.
Stones: Malachite, garnet, rose quartz, emerald, beryl, tourmaline
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