All those twos in today’s date (May 2, 2022) cause me to name the good feelings-balance and harmony- I always feel this time of year. Nature, especially in the length of the day and night and the start of the growing season, are so part of May Day. I have lovely memories of my dad and I walking through nearby woods to gather the first flowers of spring. Then my mom and I would make construction paper baskets so I could deliver May Day bouquets to neighbors and loved ones.

But we had nothing like a Beltane festival. Writing about Beltane is a bit like writing about Christmas; the holiday has so many different traditions and its celebrations have many layers of meaning. And, like Americans celebrating Memorial day, for some it has great meaning, for others, it is just a picnic in the park.

As I mentioned in earlier blogs, Beltane is one of the four fire festivals of the Celtic calendar. The fire, of course, represents the Sun and its return was most certainly cause for celebration among ancient peoples who understood their dependence on its light for not only warmth but for Nature to come to life again. So it came to also represent fertility. More and more attention is being given to the role ritual played at megalithic sites. Rites of fertility were important on all levels: crops, animals, and human mating. Everyone has probably read something about Beltane or May Day: the May Queen, the Maypole, jumping the broomstick (or the fire), and a huge bonfire.

Thousands will visit the giant festival at The Hill of Uisneach, Ireland’s ancient center, the vibrant and wild gala in the city of Edinburgh, or one of the countless bonfires dotting the Celtic countryside as people cast out the darkness of winter and celebrated the coming of spring.

Here in the US pagan ritual can be considered “other” by many. In Celtic lands, these rituals are embraced as part of the culture and history of the place. The Edinburgh Fire Festival is a great example of how modern times have revived or amplified ancient customs. The modern event was created in 1988 with academic support from the School of Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh. This is an excerpt from the Edinburgh Fire Festival website:

Beltane honours Life. It represents the peak of Spring and the beginning of Summer. Earth energies are at their strongest and most active. All of life is bursting with potent fertility and at this point in the Wheel of the Year, the potential becomes conception. On May Eve the sexuality of life and the earth is at its peak. Abundant fertility, on all levels, is the central theme. The Maiden goddess has reached her fullness. She is the manifestation of growth and renewal, Flora, the Goddess of Spring, the May Queen, the May Bride. The Young Oak King, as Jack-In-The-Green, as the Green Man, falls in love with her and wins her hand. The union is consummated and the May Queen becomes pregnant. Together the May Queen and the May King are symbols of the Sacred Marriage (or Heiros Gamos), the union of Earth and Sky, and this union has merrily been re-enacted by humans throughout the centuries. For this is the night of the Greenwood Marriage. It is about sexuality and sensuality, passion, vitality and joy. And about conception. A brilliant moment in the Wheel of the Year to bring ideas, hopes and dreams into action. And have some fun.