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Beltane

 

April 30th/May 1st is known as Beltane (means "fire of bel"), also known as May Eve, May Day, and Walpurgis (väl-'pur-gus) Night or Walpurgisnacht (väl-'pur-gus-"nächt).  Beltane, like Samhain, is a time of "no time" when the veils between the two worlds are at their thinnest.  "No time" is when the two worlds intermingle and unite and the magic abounds!

This Sabbat is a celebration of fertility and the height of Spring.  A marriage between the Lord of the Greenwood and the Lady of the May took place on this day.  The Lord and Lady came together, made love and created new life.  Our ancestors mimicked this most sacred union by choosing a May King and Queen and dancing around the May Pole.  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.  Ribbons of bright blue, lavender, warm pink, lemon yellow and white are nice representatives of the season, but the traditional colors are red and white, representing the blood that flows from the woman when her purity is taken and white for the virgin goddess.  This ritual was a prayer for fertility, not just so they would be blessed with children,
 but also so their livestock and crops would be fertile as well.  An interesting note, it seems in ancient times people weren't allowed to wed in the month of May because it was the time of the Goddess and God, which is why there were, and still are, so many June brides!

 

Beltane is halfway around the Year Wheel from Samhain.  While Samhain celebrated the dead, Beltane celebrated new life and the end of Winter's rule. Back at Samhain we made a figure to represent Old Man Winter.  But on Beltane Old Man Winter's reign ends so he must die.

 



 Purpose: Beltane celebrates the successful beginning of the growing season, as well as honoring human sexuality.  Many May Day traditions collected from the ancient Pagans are still carried on in various forms at the present time.  The nut hunt that goes on today is a variation of ancient symbolism: the nuts symbolized the human testicles to the ancient Pagans (and is probably where the modern slang for testes being referred to as "nuts" comes from).  The ancient Greeks honored the promiscuous nature god Pan and the nymphs at this time, and spellwork for love and sex would be especially powerful now.

Other modern practices carried over from ancient times for this holiday include dancing around the maypole, which was symbolic of the male phallus to the Pagan cultures in the past, and of jumping over the fire, something women used to do for blessings and fertility (as a masculine element, the fire was also seen as a symbolic phallus).

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