BELTANE

 

 

 

 

MAYDAY

 

WALPURGISNACHT

 

ROODMAS

 

is celebrated on May 1 or the first Full Moon in Taurus. also know as Mayday, Lady Day, Bealtinne, Beltine, Beltain, Beal-tine, Beltan, Bel-tien, Beltein, Bealtuinn and Bealtaine:

 

(April 30-May 1 - Western Hemisphere)

 

April 30 -- May Eve -- Beltaine

As the weather heats up and the plant world burgeons, an exuberant mood prevails. Folk dance around the Maypole, emblem of fertility (the name "May" comes from a Norse word meaning "to shoot out new growth"). May 1st was the midpoint of a five-day Roman festival to Flora, Goddess of Flowers. The name "Beltaine" means "Bel's Fires"; in Celtic lands, cattle were driven between bonfires to bless them, and people leaped the fires for luck. The association in Germany of May Eve with Witches' gatherings is a memory of pre-Christian tradition. "Wild" water (dew, flowing streams or ocean water) is collected as a basis for healing drinks and potions for the year to come

Beltane
or May-Day, is a celebration of love. And we're talking Pagan now! Love -- moon rhymes with June, so the universe gets created. LAHV! The Ancient people, from the Priests and Priestesses to the farmers understood the power of love: loving company between two people is an echo of the act that created all things. No, let me rephrase that: it IS the act of creation.

The celebration of May 1st, or Beltane is one of the most important festivals the year. The word Beltane literally means, "shining fire." This is one of the most exciting festivals of the Wheel of the year. It is also one of the only holidays that is usually celebrated in the light of day. The collecting of spring flowers is one of the popular customs of this day. For thousands of years, people would go into the fields to collect the pretty flowers and exchange them.

Towns people would often proceed through the village streets putting flowers on all the houses and buildings. People inside the homes would offer them wonderful food and goodies to eat as sort of a spring version of "trick or treat." Another benchmark tradition of this holiday is the Maypole. In tradition, a fir was used. The young, unwed men would go to the forest and return with the tree that would be fashioned into the pole. The pole was brought to the center of the village to be guarded through the night until the first day of May. On that day, the people would come and dance around the maypole clockwise to bring fertility and good luck. Later, brightly colored ribbons were woven around the pole by the dancers as they wove around eachother. This symbolizes the balance of masculine and feminine energies and the duality of life. The ribbons would then be removed and kept in a safe place to be burned in the Beltane fires of next year. This action represents the old dying to give birth to the new.

Fertility is a central theme of Beltane. The people lived in close connection with the Earth. To have food to eat, the crops and the beasts of the fields would have to be fertile.

In the time of the ancients, this was a life and death matter. For this reason, we have a number of holidays and rituals that are connected with fertility. The maypole is connected to this theme by way of the view point of it being a phallic symbol.

Another fertility representation is the custom of jumping the cauldron. Couples wishing to conceive children will jump the cauldron together. Fertility of all areas of life are invoked during this holiday as well as sexual fertility. This is the day for Wiccans to laugh and banter about having the most joyous of times!