Beltane
Beltane and How to celebrate the Pagan Tradition
Beltane is an ancient Celtic pagan tradition that has been celebrated for centuries. With a celebration rooted in fertility, growth, protection and healing, Beltane honours Mother Nature while also providing spiritual guidance through positive rituals and ceremonies. Many witches today have adopted Beltane's traditions into their own celebrations as they take part in traditional activities such as dancing around the maypole and gathering with friends to feast on food cooked over fires outdoors.
What is Beltane and where did it come from?
Beltane, also known as May Day, is a traditional Celtic festival set between the spring equinox and summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. The festival has roots that go back to pre-Christian times and is still celebrated by many today as one of the eight great festivals (known as sabbats) in the Wheel of the Year as part of the four quarter day festivals otherwise known as the fire festivals. The name Beltane comes from the Gaelic word "bealtaine," which means the bright fire of Bel, a reference to the ancient Celtic sun god. Beltane is also referred to as Cétshamhain ('first of summer') as it marked the time when cattle were taken to summer pastures.
Beltane is a time of love, protection, healing, harmony, fertility and vitality, and has been celebrated for thousands of years in a variety of ways with the core elements of bonfires, feasting and giving offerings in exchange for fertility and protection.
Beltane continues to play an important role in Celtic culture and history as many wiccans, pagans and witches still celebrate it.
The popular hit film ‘Midsommar’ features many traditons that stem from celctic pagan traditions during Beltane and Midsommar celebrations, such as the crowing the May Queen, the Maypole dance, a grand feast and decorative flowers… only real Beltane celebrations are much less disturbing.
Celebrating Beltane
Beltane is celebrated with bonfires, feasts, maypoles, dancing, fertility rituals and offerings for protection.
One such tradition is performed by dancing around bonfires, leaping over the embers of fire and dancing around the bonfire. Cattle were walked around the bonfire to purify and ensure fertility of the cattle and crops. The Beltane bonfire is also used to rekindle the household flames for good luck and protection. These gatherings are traditionally accompanied by a feast, with a portion of the food and wine offered to the Aos sí, spirts of nature akin to fae and elves, to appease them as they were known to be very active during this time (as well as during Samhain). The fires of Beltane also invoke and heighten sexual desire and throughout history, Beltane has been a time of sexual pleasure. The Earth is abundant with fertility during this time as the Horned God and Mother Goddess come together for a physically intimate moment. In Ancient Rome, Maiouma was celebrated around this time to honour Dionysus and Aphrodite, a nocturnal festival famous for it’s lavish parties, copoius amounts of drinking, and orgies. Some pagans and wiccans have what is known as sacred sex, in which they embody the spirit of their dieties to perform a ritualistic union through sexual pleasure. Many pagans do not see sex as sinful, but instead a primal natural desire that fulfils a sacred role in the cycle of life.
Ancient practices of Beltane involved offerings or even sacrifices to deities and fae in exchange for protection of their livestock and crops, as warding off disease was vital to ensure a bountiful harvest.
In the highlands of Scotland, rituals were performed in which a lamb was sacrificed and eaten during a great feast. A Beltane bannock, an oatmeal cake with nine knobs was eaten while facing a great bonfire, with part of the bannock thrown over the shoulder as an offering to the spirits in exchange for protection of their livestock.
On the hill of Uisneach in medieval Ireland, a great gathering would occur in which a bonfire was lit and a sacrifice was made to the God Belenus, an ancient Celtic healing God in order to protect themselves and their cattle from disease.
Another ancient practice would be to visit a sacred well to collect Beltane Dew. Dew was collected during this time as Beltane Dew was thought to bring youthfulness, beauty and vitality - Many witches still catch dew water during this to be as a magical essence for vitality.
Courtship was often practised during this time, in which people would come together to find love. For Lovers, Beltane is also a common time for Pagans to celebrate "handfastings," a ceremony of commitment. These can be binding for a year and a day, a period chosen by the parties, or they can be permanent.
In Scotland, handfastings carried out by registered celebrants can be legally binding marriages.
Activities such as dancing around the Maypole, lighting bonfires, making flower crowns, and blessing the fields and crops are popular ways to celebrate Beltane even today. Many celebrate Beltane with a great feast, with fresh summer food served during this time including summer fruits, honey cakes, and soups and stews that incorporate summer produce.
The Green Man and the May Queen
The Green Man is a powerful symbol of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. He represents the connection between humanity and nature.
According to the legend, the Green Man emerges from the earth on Beltane morning, bringing with him the energy and vitality of the sun. He is a symbol of the life force that runs through all living things, and his appearance signifies the beginning of the growing season.
The May Queen is chosen every year to represent the Mother Goddess in her maiden form of spring and fertility. She is often portrayed as a young woman dressed in white, with a crown of flowers on her head.
During the festival, the May Queen would lead a procession through the village, with music and dancing. She would be carried in a flower-covered carriage or walk at the head of the procession, greeting the villagers as she passed. With her is the vessel that represents the Green Man.
The tale of the Green Man and the May Queen begins as the Horned God (the Winter form of the Green Man) sees the Mother Goddess in her Maiden form. The Horned God is so overwhelmed with love and lust, that he surrenders his life to her. In his death, the Mother Goddess gives him life, transforming him into the Green Man so that they can be together. Every year, the Horned God and Mother Goddess repeat this cycle.
Beltane Fire Festival
Every year, the Beltane Fire Society hosts the Beltane Fire Festival, a festival that hosts a large bonfire festival with people traveling from all over the world to attend. The festival is the biggest celebration of Beltane in the world, and has been a tradition since 1988. The festival ‘is a living, breathing re-interpretation and modernisation of an ancient Iron Age Celtic ritual and is the largest of its kind’ and boasts unique re-telling of the beautiful traditional stories of The Procession of May Queen and The Death and Re-birth of The Green Man, you’ll be surrounded by fire-play, acrobatics, drummers, dancers, clowns, musicians, actors, puppeteers, artists, poets, crafters, curious and mysterious creatures‘ - (https://beltane.org/beltane-fire-festival-2023/).
One of the features is a retelling of the tale of the transition from winter to summer, which can only occur when the Green Man, a figure of archetype in British folklore, dies and is resurrected. He does so in order to sweep off the last vestiges of winter and become the May Queen's consort.
Symbolism of Beltane
The term Beltane roughly translates as ‘bright fire’, fire being seen by pagans and witches as a purifier and healer. Beltane is also one of the great fire festivals, which are all traditionally celebrated with bonfires. These bonfires are very symbolic for fire festivals, with their own uniue meanings depending on the festival. For Beltane, the bonfire brings luck and protection, and signifies the power and vitality of the warming season.
Beltane is also associated with the symbolic union of the god and goddess, that honors the sacred union between the divine and nature.
Decorations can include Maypole ribbons, garlands made of flowers or leaves, or even wreaths for the front door.
Yellow is a very significant colour during beltane, as the colour represents the sun and fire, and so traditionally doors, windows and wreathes would be decorated with yellow May flowers.
Yellow and white flowers are common decorations, with flowers such marigold, hawthorn, primrose and hazel traditonlly placed in doorways and windows.
Beltane reminds us that the natural world is in a constant state of change, and that we too can benefit from embracing this cycle of growth and transformation. As we navigate our complex modern lives, celebrating Beltane can provide an opportunity to connect with nature and tap into the energy of the season.
Traditonal Beltane Blessing
The Beltane Blessing
Bless, O Threefold true and bountiful,
Myself, my spouse and my children,
My tender children and their beloved mother at their head,
On the fragrant plain, at the gay mountain sheiling,
On the fragrant plain, at the gay mountain sheiling.
Everything within my dwelling or in my possession,
All kine and crops, all flocks and corn,
From Hallow Eve to Beltane Eve,
With goodly progress and gentle blessing,
From sea to sea, and every river mouth,
From wave to wave, and base of waterfall.
(Carmina Gadelica, Volume 1 by Alexander Carmichae - a South Uist crofter sung during Beltane)
