May 1
The old Celtic name for May Day is Beltane (in its most popular Anglicized form), which is derived from the Irish Gaelic "Bealtaine" or the Scottish Gaelic "Bealtuinn", meaning "Bel-fire", the fire of the Celtic god of light (Bel, Beli or Belinus). He, in turn, may be traced to the Middle Eastern god Baal.
As the ribbons intertwine around the May pole and fires are lit, the Goddess comes into power and the Sun God Bel is honored with this return. Beltane is a night for bonfires, torch-lit processions and the high revelry of witches, preferably in high places. It is prime time for the Great Rite, a night (like Samhain) when the Goddess descends into women. Cailleach Beara (Cally Berry, Brighids crone aspect) turns to stone this night and does not to return until Samhain.
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.
May Day ushers in the fifth month of the modern calendar year, the month of May. This month is named in honor of the goddess Maia, originally a Greek mountain nymph, later identified as the most beautiful of the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades. By Zeus, she is also the mother of Hermes, god of magic. Maias parents were Atlas and Pleione, a sea nymph.
The holiday is sacred to Bel, the sun God in whose honor bonfires were lit. Bel supplanted Brigid in the British Isles. He was part of the patriarchal takeover of Europe. In Ireland, Bilé, the God of the underworld, is the father of Miled. The sons of Mil (read: Miled), or the Milesians, were the Goidelic Celts who took over Ireland from the Partholanians. They came from Spain, the Gaelic land of the dead. Bel was honored at Beltane not only as a god of death, but also as a god of life as well, and was depicted as a solar deity. He gained victory over the powers of darkness by bringing the people to within sight of another harvest.
The holiday is also sacred to: Flora, Danu, Luna, Guinevere, Demeter, Persephone, Green Man, Cernunnos and Pan.
Bel is found all over mainland Europe. Belgium. Caesar, who first met him in Gaul called him "Belenos," and saw him as comparable to Apollo (the Sun again). Down in what is now Lebanon, in the "Old Testament," we frequently hear of the Hebrew women leaving their homes to be with the Canaanite Goddess Asherah or Astarte and her lover consort Baal. (the Anglo Saxons called Astarte "Ostara" - the Goddess of the East).
As a Sun deity, Bel is closely associated with Fire. Beltane is a double Fire Festival, and Fire is a wonderful tool for looking into the past. The cycle is well up and needs fertilization for the next rush of growth, but here is a moment to remember the roots, where this cycle began. Beltane is that time for one last look back, one final deep fertilizing breath before the time of massive growth in summer. Fire energizes growth and fruitfulness, just as the heat of the returning Sun warms the Earth and nourishes the growing seedlings.
The Goddess of the Celts manifested herself in three ways. At Imbolc we see her as the Virgin Bride. Here at Beltane, and again at Lughnasad in early August, the manifestation of the Goddess we see is the Mother - she becomes this, many times, as a result of Beltane lovemaking. She is woman in her prime. Lover. Fully aware. In her power. At Samhain around the first of November, we shall see her in the final phase of this trinity, the wise old woman or the Crone.
Beltane is a celebration of the sacred marriage, so at Beltane there is the crowning of the Queen of the May (the Virgin who may become Mother) and her King. In their honor, the people dance around the May Pole.
A May King is sometimes chosen and wears leaves portraying the Jack-of-the-Green. He is also associated with chimney sweeps. The king is also representative of the sun god returned.
A May Queen is traditionally chosen to represent the Goddess and to wear green and crowns of flowers, dance naked in the crops or ride a broomstick through the fields, for the fertility of the land.
This is a day for fertility rites, lighthearted celebration and sexual revelry, for love-chases, maypole dancing and performing the Great Rite to honor the Mother. May baskets may be made and flower garlands woven.
The Beltane fire is still built and enjoyed today as part of this holiday ritual. The fire was kindled by six or 12 people. Livestock used to be driven through it or between two fires for purification and fertility blessings. In ancient times Druid priests kindled it at sacred places. Rowan twigs were carried around the fire three times, then hung over hearths to bless homes. In the past, Beltane fire purification customs included symbolic sacrifice of effigy knobs on the Beltane Cake (of barley) to the fire, or, in medieval times, mock sacrifice of Beltane Carline (Hag) who received blackened piece of Beltane Cake.
Contemporary Pagans burn sacred wood and dried herbs as offerings in their Beltane fires. Beltane bonfire ashes are often saved as a fertility charm for the following year.
Traditionally, all fires were extinguished on the eve of Beltaine, to be re-lit from the sacred 'needfire' kindled at dawn. The Celts were predominantly pastoral people and Beltaine was the time when the cattle were put out to their summer grazing on the higher slopes. As well as the widespread lighting of Beltaine bonfires on moors or hilltops throughout the Highlands.
A divination at this time includes watching the smoke from the fire. When the smoke of the Beltane fire goes north, spring will be cold; spring will be mild if it goes south.
Hawthorn is associated with Beltane and is sacred to the Goddess. Its pink blossoms were purified and hung in the home to protect against evil magic. Its branches were used orgasmically, and in maypole dances. It was once taboo to cut Hawthorn except on May Eve. These trees often grow near sacred wishing wells.
Ferns collected at midnight on May Eve were believed to protect against evil influences and reveal hidden treasure and a rosebush pruned on May Eve was said to bloom again in the fall.
Root of St. John's Wort, gathered at sunrise on May Day, brings good luck to the family for its undertakings, especially those begun on that day. Hang the root up in the house on May Day to keep out evil spirits.
A special cake or bannock would be made for this holiday using eggs, milk and oatmeal. These bannocks, which were kneaded entirely by hand and should not come into contact with steel, were being made up until the end of the nineteenth century. One piece of the bannock cake would be blackened with charcoal and distributed along with the other pieces. Whoever drew this piece out of the bonnet had to leap three times through the flames.
Offerings for fairies can be made at this time and homage paid to the deities.
The battle of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, held on May 1 every year for the goddess Creiddylad, symbolized the fight between the Oak King and the Holly King for the rule of the year.
Animals sacred at this time are the hare and the goat.
The famous icon associated with Beltane is of course the maypole. A maypole is a phallic symbol, its ribbons and streamers female ones. Weaving a maypole with streamers makes it a symbol of the Great Goddess, who contains all polarities. Maypole dancing was an erotic prelude and an expression of death and resurrection.
On May Eve the fir Maypole was cut by the unmarried men who guarded it in their village. Traditionally-colored ribbons of red and white represent life (red) and a death shroud (white).
Other May Day customs include: walking the circuit of ones property (beating the bounds), repairing fences and boundary markers, processions of chimney-sweeps and milk maids, archery tournaments, sword dances, feasting, music, drinking, and maidens bathing their faces in the dew of May morning to retain their youthful beauty.
Long after the Christian form of marriage (with its insistence on sexual monogamy) had replaced the older Pagan handfasting, the rules of strict fidelity were always relaxed for the May Eve rites. Names such as Robin Hood, Maid Marion, and Little John played an important part in May Day folklore, often used as titles for the celebrations. Modern surnames such as Robinson, Hodson, Johnson, and Godkin may attest to some distant May Eve spent in the woods.
Beltane is compared to the old Roman feast of flowers, the Floriala, three days of unrestrained sexuality which began at sundown April 28 and reached culmination on May 1.
This date has long been considered a "power point" of the Zodiac, and is symbolized by the Bull, one of the "tetramorph" figures featured on the Tarot cards, the World and the Wheel of Fortune. (The other three symbols are the Lion, the Eagle, and the Spirit.) Astrologers know these four figures as the symbols of the four "fixed" signs of the Zodiac (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius), and these naturally align with the four Great Sabbats of Witchcraft.
The blessing of the streams was done at Beltane by druids as they cast garlands of flowers into the water as a rite of purification. Romans left votive offerings at pools, wells and fountains. Become aquatinted with the spirit of water that dwells in your area and give it a token or offering.
Traditional food for this holiday include May wine, asparagus, herbs, marigold salad, fairy food such as fairy jam, noodles in fairy butter and other items such as finger sandwiches.
