Bealtaine

The Fire Festival of Bealtaine (hereafter Beltane – anglo-saxon spelling)

This festival is also known as Beltane, the Celtic May Day. It officially begins at moonrise on May Day Eve, and marks the beginning of the third quarter or second half of the ancient Celtic year. It is celebrated as an early pastoral festival accompanying the first turning of the herds out to wild pasture. The rituals were held to promote fertility. The cattle were driven between the Belfires to protect them from ills. Contact with the fire was interpreted as symbolic contact with the sun. In early Celtic times, the druids kindled the Beltane fires with specific incantations. Later the Christian church took over the Beltane observances, a service was held in the church, followed by a procession to the fields or hills, where the priest kindled the fire. The rowan branch is hung over the house fire on May Day to preserve the fire itself from bewitchment (the house fire being symbolic of the luck of the house).

This is a holiday of Union-both between the Goddess and the God and between man and woman. Handfastings (Pagan marriages) are traditional at this time. It is a time of fertility and harvest, the time for reaping the wealth from the seeds that we have sown. Celebrations include braiding of one’s hair (to honour the union of man and woman and Goddess and God), circling the Maypole for fertility and jumping the Beltane fire for luck. Beltane is one of the Major Sabbats of the Wiccan religion. We celebrate sexuality (something we see as holy and intrinsic to us as holy beings), we celebrate life and the unity which fosters it. The myths of Beltane state that the young God has blossomed into manhood, and the Goddess takes him on as her lover. Together, they learn the secrets of the sexual and the sensual, and through their union, all life begins.

Beltane is the season of maturing life and deep found love. This is the time of vows, handfastings and commitment. The Lord and his Lady, having reached maturity, come together in Perfect Love and Perfect Trust to celebrate the joy of their union. This is a time to celebrate the coming together of the masculine and feminine creative energies. Beltane marks the emergence of the young God into manhood. Stirred by the energies at work in nature, he desired the Goddess. They fall in love, lie among the grasses and blossoms and unite.

The flowers and greenery symbolise the Goddess and the Maypole represents the God. Beltane marks the return of vitality and passion of summer. Another common focal point of the Beltane rituals is the cauldron, which represents the Goddess. The Welsh goddess Creiddylad is connected with Beltane, often called the May Queen, she was a Goddess of summer flowers and love.

May Day

May Day has long been marked with feasts and rituals. May poles, supremely phallic symbols, were the focal point of old English village rituals. Many people arose at dawn to gather flowers and green branches from the fields and gardens, using them to decorate the village Maypoles.

The May Queen (and often King) is chosen from among the young people, and they go singing from door to door throughout the town carrying flowers or the May tree, soliciting donations for merrymaking in return for the “blessing of May”. This is symbolic of bestowing and sharing of the new creative power that is stirring in the world. As the kids go from door to door, the May Bride often sings to the effect that those who give will get of nature’s bounty through the year.

In parts of France, some jilted youth will lie in a field on May Day and pretend to sleep. If any village girl is willing to marry him, she goes and wakes him with a kiss; the pair then goes to the village inn together and lead the dance which announces their engagement. The boy is called “the betrothed of May.”

Its a time when, for wiccans and some pagans, they see a union of opposites, the horned God impregnates the Goddess. It is associated with fertility and strength, with celebration and sexuality, with freedom and creativity. For those who are more drawn to Goddess energy, see below for associated Goddesses.

Aine is the Goddess most associated with Bealtaine.

Goddess of love and fertility; also known as the Fairy Queen of Munster.

With the Goddess Aine we wander into the realms of the unfettered powers
of Femininity. The Goddess Aine was one of the female deities that
suffered from repression at the hands of the Christian monks. In Ireland
around 500 BC it is fairly well attested that several sites in Munster
and Connaught were dedicated to the worship of Aine.

We can see Aine in triple aspect in the powers attributed to her.
Firstly as the Maiden in her ability to reward her devotees with the
gift of poetry or with unfortunate madness. There is a stone that
belonged to Aine high on her mountain, Cnoc Aine, which could bestow
either poetry to the worthy or madness to those she rejected. Also, it
was said that all the mad dogs in Ireland would congregate around this
stone. It is not hard with her connection with poetry and hounds to see
her Maiden aspects to be those of the Goddess Bride, who in the form of
a Maiden was the muse of poetry and had the name Cu Gorm (grey hound).

Next, as a Mother deity Aine is associated with lakes and wells with
great powers of healing. Tobar-Na-hAine (Well of Aine) was credited with
life-restoring powers.

She is in several tales strongly associated with the Yew tree which
shows her as a Goddess of Life and Death. In all her aspects it is
clearly shown that Aine was no deity to offend, for in spite of all her
beneficent attributes, if crossed she could have coined the phrase “Hell
hath no fury like a woman scorned”. There are many tales of her revenge
and her infinite patience in its pursuit. In one story she was offended
by an Irish High King whereupon she caused a great battle to ensue in
which he was killed. It was said that at his death her mocking laughter
could be heard over the din of battle. The attribute of Aine which made
her a great enemy of the early Church was undoubtedly her sexuality. If
ever a Goddess was depicted as the Arch Rival of the institute of
matrimony then it was surely Aine, whose promiscuity and freedom of
spirit could not be encompassed by man, thus a threat to the self denial
of chastity of these womanless monks.

Finally, in her third aspect of the dark Goddess, she has the ability to
appear to mortal men as a woman of great beauty known as the leannan
sidhe, which means “Fairy Lover”. In this form her chosen subject would
be totally spellbound into what could only be described as a fatal
attraction, as the outcome was almost certain to result in the death of
the chosen one.
Damara is a fertility Goddess also associated with Bealtaine. She is mysterious and not much is know about her, but where her name is spoken, instruction is given to take her seriously. Damara’s name means “gentle.” She is a sweet and docile goddess of home and hearth who helps with family and family harmony.

Berkano the birch is the rune for Bealtaine. It is the rune associated with the fertility rites of spring. It is the rune for release of energies that bring new growth. It is beauty and physical attraction. It is associated with motherhood.