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Beltane

Correspondences / Activities / Beltane rituals

Beltane (Beltaine, Belltaine, Bealtaine, Beltain, Beltine, Bealteine, Bealtuinn, Boaldyn , also known as May Eve, May Day, and Walpurgis Night) means 'Bel fire,' 'bright fire' or 'lucky fire' is held on May 1. Beltane has long been celebrated with feasts and rituals. Beltane means fire of Bel; Belinos being one name for the Sun God, whose coronation feast we now celebrate.

By Celtic reckoning, the actual Beltane celebration begins on sundown of the preceding day, April 30, because the Celts always figured their days from sundown to sundown. And sundown was the proper time for Druids to kindle the great Bel-fires on the tops of the nearest beacon hill (such as Tara Hill, Co. Meath, in Ireland). These 'need-fires' had healing properties, and sky-clad Witches would jump through the flames to ensure protection.

Beltane celebrates the height of Spring and the flowering of life. The Goddess manifests as the May Queen and Flora. The God emerges as the May King and Jack in the Green. The danced Maypole represents Their unity, with the pole itself being the God and the ribbons that encompass it, the Goddess. Colors are the Rainbow spectrum. Beltane is a festival of flowers, fertility, sensuality, and delight.

At Beltane the Pleiades star cluster rises just before sunrise on the morning horizon, whereas winter (Samhain) begins when the Pleiades rises at sunset. The Pleiades is a cluster of seven closely placed stars, the seven sisters, in the constellation of Taurus, near his shoulder. When looking for the Pleiades with the naked eye, remember it looks like a tiny dipper-shaped pattern of six moderately bright stars (the seventh can be seen on very dark nights) in the constellation of Taurus. It stands very low in the east-northeast sky for just a few minutes before sunrise.

It is believed that Beltane is a Celtic reinvention of an even older Roman festival, Floralia, which celebrated the goddess Flora and the flowering of spring. Most major religions have a holiday that marks the coming of spring. The Christian religion celebrates rebirth (or resurrection) on Easter; Easter eggs, Easter bunnies, chicks, and lilies are all pagan symbols of fertility associated with spring, adapted to the Christian tradition. The Hindu religion celebrates Holi, a carnival-like spring festival, dedicated to Krishna or Kama, the God of Pleasure. This festival resembles Beltane, with bonfires being a main focus of the holiday.

In the old Celtic times, young people would spend the entire night in the woods "A-Maying," and then dance around the phallic Maypole the next morning. Older married couples were allowed to remove their wedding rings (and the restrictions they imply) for this one night. May morning is a magickal time for wild water (dew, flowing streams, and springs) which is collected and used to bathe in for beauty, or to drink for health.

Ancient Pagan traditions say that Beltane marks the emergence of the young God into manhood. Stirred by the energies at work in nature, he desires the Goddess. They fall in love, lie among the grasses and blossoms, and unite. The Goddess becomes pregnant of the God. To celebrate, a wedding feast, for the God and Goddess must be prepared.

Traditionally, Beltane festivities began days before May 1st or "May Day," when villagers traveled into the woods to gather the nine sacred woods needed to build the Beltane bonfires. The tradition of "May Boughing" or "May Birching" involved young men fastening garlands of greens and flowers on the windows and doors of their prospective ladyloves before the fires are lit Beltane night. As with many Celtic customs, the type of flowers or branches used carried symbolic meaning, and much negotiating and courting could be worked out ahead of time.

Many communities elected a virgin as their "May Queen" to lead marches or songs. To the Celts, she represented the virgin goddess on the eve of her transition from Maiden to Mother. Depending on the time and place, the consort might be named "Jack-in-the-Green" or "Green Man," "May Groom" or "May King." The union of the Queen and her consort symbolized the fertility and rebirth of the world.

A large part of the Beltane festivities revolved around dancing the maypole. The danced Maypole represents the unity of the God and Goddess, with the pole itself being the God and the ribbons that encompass it, the Goddess. Colors are the Rainbow spectrum. Forms include pole, tree, bush, cross; communal or household; permanent or annual. In Germany, Fir tree was cut on May Eve by young unmarried men, branches removed, decorated, put up in village square, and guarded all night until the dance occurred on May Day. In England, permanent Maypoles were erected on village greens. In some villages, there also were smaller Maypoles in the yards of households. Maypole ribbon-dances, with two circles interweaving; around decorated bush/tree, clockwise circle dances.

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Correspondence

Symbolism: The Union of the Goddess and the God, Fertility in all things.

Symbols: Maypole, Mayday baskets, bonfires, flowers, ribbons, flower crowns, fairies.

Food: dairy foods, foods made with flowers, red fruits such as strawberries and cherries, green herbal salads, red or pink wine punch, maybowl (an icebowl decorated with spring flowers and filled with maywine), large round oatmeal or barley cakes (known as Beltane cakes or Bannocks), shellfish and other aphrodisiacs.

Herbs: Rose, elder, mugwort, mint, lily of the valley, foxglove, broom, hawthorne, almond, angelica, bluebells, daisy, marigold, frankincense, lilac, yellow cowslips, thyme.

Incense and oils: Rose, sandalwood, frankincense, lilac, mint.

Colors: Red, white, green, yellow.

Stones: Emerald, malachite, carnelian, amber, sapphire, rose quartz.
Animals: bee, goat, cat, lynx, horse, leopard, swallow, dove, swan.
Mythical creatures: Faeries, Pegasus, satyrs, giants.

Some appropriate Goddesses: all fertility, flower, song and dance, hunting, and virgin-mother Goddesses; Aphrodite (Greek), Artemis (Greek), Belili (Sumerian), Bloddeuwedd (Welsh), Cybele (Greek), Damara (English), Danu (Irish), Diana (Greek), Fand (Manx-Irish), Flidais (Irish), Flora (Roman), Frigg/Freya (Norse), Ishtar (Assyro-Babylonian), Rhea (Greek), Rhiannon (Welsh), Venus (Roman)

Some appropriate Gods: all fertility, love, hunting, and young father Gods; Baal (Phoenician), Bel (Sumerian), Cernunnos (Celtic), Cupid (Roman), Eros (Greek), Faunus (Roman), Frey (Norse), The Great Horned God (European), Herne (English), Orion (Greek), Pan (Greek)

Decorations: maypole, lots of flowers, flower wreaths, ribbons.

Astrological associations: Sun 15 degrees Taurus

Planetary ruler: Venus

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Activities

Enacting the Great Rite
Prepare a May basket by filling it with flowers and goodwill and then give it to someone in need of healing and caring, such as a shut-in or elderly friend.
Form a wreath of freshly picked flowers, wear it in your hair, and feel yourself radiating joy and beauty.
Dress in bright colors.
Dance the Maypole and feel yourself balancing the Divine Female and Male within. On May Eve
Bless your garden in the old way by making love with your lover in it.
Make a wish as you jump a bonfire or candle flame for good luck.
Welcome in the May at dawn with singing and dancing
Walk the circuit of one's property ('beating the bounds'), repairing fences and boundary markers
Maidens should bathe their faces in the dew of May morning to retain their youthful beauty.