Beltane
Samhain opens the dark half of the year and Beltane opens the bright. The cattle were driven between two fires to bless them before they went up to the summer pastures. The hawthorn is in flower, the nights are warm enough to spend outside, and the whole world is in love.
What it is
Beltane is the second great fire festival of the Irish year and the mirror of Samhain. The veil is thin again, but what comes through is not the dead; it is the Good People, the fae, the wild spirits of the green world. The hawthorn, their tree, must not be brought indoors except on this one night. For witches, Beltane is the sacred marriage: the Goddess and the God, grown to their full strength, come together, and all the fertility of the summer flows from their union. It is the most joyful of the Sabbats and the most frankly bodily, and we make no apology for that.
How we keep it at the Hearth
- The Bel-fires. Two fires, lit from need-fire kindled by friction, and we walk between them for blessing. Then we jump the one that is left, in pairs or alone, for luck and love and the courage to leap.
- The maypole. Ribbons, music, a great deal of laughing, and a woven pattern at the end that is never quite what anyone planned. It is a perfectly good spell for the year's weaving.
- The May Queen and the Green Man. Two of us are crowned and lead the dance. They are not always a woman and a man; they are always the Goddess and the God.
- Washing in the dew at dawn on May morning for beauty, by which we mean the particular beauty of a face that has been outside all night.
- Handfastings. Beltane is the traditional time for them, and we have held several. A year and a day, or a lifetime, or as long as love lasts.
- Offerings to the Good People. Milk and honey left at the hawthorn. We do not ask for anything in return and we are careful to be polite.
Correspondences
| Colours | Green, red, white, all bright colours |
|---|---|
| Foods | Oatcakes, honey, dairy, strawberries, elderflower cordial, May wine with sweet woodruff |
| Herbs and plants | Hawthorn, rowan, birch, primrose, bluebell, woodruff, rose, all flowers |
| Symbols | The maypole, the fire, the flower crown, the cup and the blade, the Green Man's face |
| Deities honoured | Belenus, Flora, the Green Man, Pan, Cernunnos, Aphrodite, Freyja, the Goddess as Lover |
Small things to do
- Find a hawthorn in flower and stand under it for a while. Do not pick it.
- Get up early on May morning and wash your face in the grass.
- Tell someone you love them. Tell several.
- Light a candle and jump over it. Carefully. In bare feet. Make a wish mid-air.
- Leave a little milk out for whoever might be passing.
A Beltane blessing
Summer is come, the fires are lit, and the green world has thrown its doors open. Lady, Lord, lovers of the land: bless us with your joy, your heat, your reckless generosity. Let what we love, grow. Let what we make, flourish. Let us never be too old to jump the fire.
Next on the wheel: Litha