Beltane

The first weekend of May was a neo-Pagan holiday called Beltane. This festivity celebrates the arrival of the spring, the fire, the light after so many months of cold and darkness. It celebrates nature and its cycles as it emphasises the victory of the light over the night, spring and renewal over the cold winter months.

It is generally a fertility celebration, and over time one of the most traditional ways of celebrating it is by dancing a maypole. The maypole represents a giant phallus, and often only young women who hoped to conceive would dance.



"Pagan traditions generally recognise the Divine as having both male and female aspects, Goddess and God. At Beltane, the Goddess manifests as the May Queen and Flora. The God emerges as the May King and Jack in the Green, or the Green Man. The danced Maypole represents Their unity, with the pole itself being the God and the ribbons that encompass it, the Goddess. Colors are the Rainbow spectrum. Beltane is a festival of flowers, fertility, sensuality, and delight." (Celli Laughing Coyote)



In Celtic traditions, Beltane was also a time when hearth fires were extinguished - a once a year event - and a new fire laid. Much ritual was involved with kindling a community bonfire, and from that celebratory fire, torches were carried home to relight the hearth. Fire was a common ritual symbol as it represented the return of the sun after long winter and the bursting forth of summer energy.

It is a time of fun and games, of releasing pent up energy. Games of strength and agility are common. In the context of the (non Pagan) gathering where this particular maypole was danced, there were activities like craft decorating, tossing empty bier kegs, large-scale Ta ka radi (or Jenga) games, and dancing. Musicians played, food was prepared and shared, and laughter dominated the gathering.

The rest of the activities generally associated with Beltane are best kept between consenting adults, and result in a surprising number of welcome late-December babies (a date that might ring a bell...).



I leave you with the lyrics to Jethro Tull's "Cup of Wonder" from the Songs From The Wood album:

May I make my fond excuses
for the lateness of the hour,
but we accept your invitation, and we bring you Beltane's flower.
For the May Day is the great day, sung along the old straight track.
And those who ancient lines did lay
will heed the song that calls them back.
Pass the word and pass the lady, pass the plate to all who hunger.
Pass the wit of ancient wisdom, pass the cup of crimson wonder.

Ask the green man where he comes from, ask the cup that fills with red.
Ask the old grey standing stones that show the sun its way to bed.
Question all as to their ways,
and learn the secrets that they hold.
Walk the lines of nature's palm
crossed with silver and with gold.
Pass the cup and pass the lady, pass the plate to all who hunger.
Pass the wit of ancient wisdom, pass the cup of crimson wonder.

Join in black December's sadness,
lie in August's welcome corn.
Stir the cup that's ever-filling
with the blood of all that's born.
But the May Day is the great day, sung along the old straight track.
And those who ancient lines did lay
will heed this song that calls them back.
Pass the word and pass the lady, pass the plate to all who hunger.
Pass the wit of ancient wisdom, pass the cup of crimson wonder.