painting by Wendy Andrew
http://www.paintingdreams.co.uk
Beltane is one of the two major Sabbats (holidays) in the Pagan Wheel of the Year – the other being Samhain, which occurs on November 1st.
The ancient Celts split the year into two – a Light Year which took place from May 1st to November 1st, and a Dark Year, which took place from November 1st to May 1st. The Celts only celebrated two seasons rather than four… Summer and Winter.
Beltane, also seen spelled Beltaine, corresponds with the Irish Gaelic word Bealtaine which means “the month of May” and the Scottish Gaelic word Bealtuinn meaning May Day.
Even today, without necessarily celebrating or even understanding the Pagan connotations behind this day, many schools hold May Day events – Ocean fondly remembers such festivities which occurred at the elementary school of her childhood.
Bel refers to the Celtic god known as Bel, who was viewed as the “Bright One” – the god of light and fire. He was not specifically a Sun God, as the Celts were not a solar-oriented people. Certainly they honored the sun, as did most ancient civilizations… but they did not worship the sun in the same sense as some cultures such as the Egyptians did.
Basically Bel can be seen as the cohort of the Goddess – the Great Father who impregnates the Great Mother, and thus does his part in the re-creation of all life.
Indeed, the May Pole (part of which you see in the header picture above) is a representation of this whole act – it is in fact a phallic symbol, which when erected is plunged into the earth…which symbolizes the Great Mother. And of course, dancing around the May Pole was – and continues to be – an important part of the celebrations of Beltane.
The second important aspect of the Beltane festivities is the lighting of the Bel-fires, which were lit on hilltops everywhere so that they could be seen from miles away. Such fires symbolized the return of that light and warmth, the period of time when people could come out of the darkness and enjoy the months ahead.
A common tradition was to jump over the fire, which was thought to bring good luck – one might jump the fire to find oneself a mate, bring about conception (or an easy birth if already pregnant), a safe journey if traveling, good fortune if starting a new business, a prosperous harvest if sowing a new field. Sometimes two fires would be built side by side and several feet apart, and cattle would be driven between the fires before being led up to summer pastures the next day.
In the two above rites of Beltane, we thus see the two predominating themes of this Sabbat – fertility and fire. Both the May Pole dance and the lighting of the Bel-fires were part of the whole celebration of the life force itself… a time for honoring the return of life and the richness of the earth.
There are many rites and rituals related to Beltane…too numerous to mention here. Many of them do allude to the “sexuality” of this Sabbat; however, it must be understood that the original intent of such traditions was not as an excuse to engage in naked orgies, but as part of that overall celebration of the life force. As the Charge of the Goddess says:
“All acts of love and pleasure are My rituals.”
From a Pagan perspective, sexuality is seen as a direct expression of that life force, and thus is considered sacred. Certainly the ways it is expressed might be seen as rather erotic and graphic (which explains why the Puritans banned Maypoles in 1644; they returned about twenty years later)… but it is also fully felt, in a context in which sexual desire is honored – not only because it is the means by which life is procreated, but also because it is the means by which our own lives are most deeply and ecstatically realized.
But however you choose to celebrate this most joyous of the Sabbats, bear in mind the words of the Great Mother herself:
“You shall dance, sing, feast, make music and make love… all in My praise; for mine is the ecstasy of the spirit, and mine is also the joy on earth. My law is love unto all beings.”
May you have a most blessed Beltane.
This sculpture shows the sign for "connect"...and that is what Deaf Pagan Crossroads is all about - making connections. Connections between Deafhood and Paganism, connections between the Deaf Community and the Hearing Community, connections between myself as the writer and you as the reader. I hope you will take the time to read my various posts, some of which are listed below. Welcome to the Crossroads, and I hope you make some connections here!
Beltane Blessings!
A blessed Beltane to you too, Osh!
Blessings to you Ocean on Beltane
Beltane Blessings to you too, Ocean.
blessed beltaine to one and all, blessed be the goddess blessed be the god with out beginning and with out end love and light birch
Cool! I am always so fascinated by pagan celebrations. I was raised Catholic, and even then, it only occured me to recently that the Catholic church is just so.. pagan.
Certainly, I understand the historical context – how pagan festivals were appropriated and adapted from the local populace to accomodate Catholic beliefs.
Something I’ve always found very fascinating. With moments like these, I close my eyes and try to dig down deep inside my celtic blood and maybe remember…
anyway, Blessed Beltane to one and all.
p.s. the woman/tree pix – really fabulous. Hope you don’t mind that I stole it for myself, too. It’s on my desktop now.
Happy May Day!
That’s one of my favorite celebrations. Thanks for reminding me.
I totally forgot all about it. I studied Pagan and its customs a little bit a long time ago. It was really interesting reading about them.
Be sure to read the book, “How Did the Irish Saved the Civilization”. It explains how the Irish monks saved both Pagans’ and Christians’ manuscripts during the Dark Age settled in Europe — fostering literacy and learning.
That book guided me to study Pagan a little bit.
Thanks for your insight.
Bightest Beltaine Blessings!!
Yes, I am de-lurking to wish best of the season!
Ah, Beltaine…. wonderful summer season. My favorite time of year. Until the weeds catch up with me.. LOL
Ahhh… I have read about Beltaine, in the historical fictions (hey, I admit, romances!) and learned a few things about it. My sister was involved in paganism when she was at college and got a tatto of a girl sitting on the crescent of moon on her hip.
Yes, I read “How Did the Irish Saved the Civilization” and when I took art history class, I did a research paper on Celtic artwork (especially on illumincation of the books) and learned that the Irish was responsible for preserving the works of literature while the rest of Europe was caught up in the turmoil of political unrest… fascinating book.
Aahh, love Celtic literatures and its history. I’ve done a lot of research on Celtic for over 20 years and find a lot of intriguing information. Surprisingly about the Celts that spread throughout Europe for nearly 1000 years and even conquered Rome in 390 BC. Celts was supposed to be known as ‘the first Europeans’ according to historians, because of their ‘literature’ (orally passed down generation to generation since there is no known written documents), culture, history, warfare, etc. It’s true the Celts used two major Sabbats as Beltaine and Samhain, the minor Sabbats are Imbolc (Between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox) and Lughnasadh (between Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox).
I know this seems to be late and want to wish everyone a wonderful brightest Beltaine (belated, sorry).