Embracing Nature's Rhythm: The Vibrant Celebrations of Beltane

 

At the beginning of May on the Celtic wheel of life is the festival of Beltane, half way between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. Beltane is a Celtic fire festival and marks the start of the Celtic summer. 

The Celts only had two seasons, summer and winter and this festival is paired with Samhain (we know it as Halloween) which sits exactly on the opposite side of the wheel, half way between the Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice. At both festivals the veil between the worlds is thought to be thin. At Halloween the spirits of the ancestors are able to visit (and maybe play some tricks if they are so inclined!) and at Beltane human folk can more easily slip between the worlds and into the realm of the Faery folk, the elementals and nature spirits.

Traditionally the herds were driven out into summer pasture at Beltane as the last frosts were safely over and livestock could be released into the fields without fear of wolves. It was also the first real opportunity for families and communities to leave their villages after winter and go visiting. An extended community would finally be able to gather after winter confinement, to celebrate, discuss news and make plans for the coming season. A time when major gatherings and fairs were held.

Of course May time is the most potently active part of the growing cycle, all of life is bursting with fertility and potential. Everywhere is green and growing. At Beltane, people celebrated the God and Goddess in their youthful aspect. However old we are, spring makes us feel young again. So it’s not so surprising that down through the centuries May Day has been associated with fun, revelry and most significantly, fertility.

At the beginning of the ‘Merry Month’ of May, people dressed in green in honour of the Earths new colour. Beltane eve was the night of the greenwood marriage when the union of the horned god and the fertile goddess was re-enacted by men and women to ensure the fertility of the land . 

May Day morning was celebrated with Maypole dancing. The pole itself, a symbol representing masculine fertility, was traditionally be-ribboned and celebrated by maidens. Women who wanted to conceive a child would set a cauldron over a fire and then jump over it. The cauldron represented the womb, the sacred female vessel. Children conceived during Beltane were said to belong to the Goddess, they were called ‘merry-be-gots’ and were thought to have a special connection to the faerie realm.

Fire was the central element in the Beltane festival. The ‘need fire’ was a sacred fire kindled from a single flame after all other hearth fires in the community were extinguished. People jumped the fire to bring fertility, healing, transformation and to pledge themselves to each other. Beasts were driven between two fires to purify them after their long winter confinement.

 

 

The tree that was celebrated most at Beltane is the Hawthorn or May tree, a symbol of fertility and closely associated with faerie and nature spirits. Hawthorn trees, especially if they grew in threes, were considered to be potent places where time and reality could shift and they were treated with great respect.

Although the Beltane beliefs, traditions and celebrations were created in long times passed, the essential energy of our Earth’s spring time is still the same today and we can embrace, enjoy and even harness that energy for our own benefit.

There are so many ways to celebrate:

• Dress in spring green or bring greenery, flowers and blossoms into the home
• Dress a favourite tree with ribbons and tokens to express joy at their budding and blossoming.
• Dance outside, especially in interweaving dances in the spirit of union and inter-connectedness. Try Morris dancing or circle dancing.
• Lay a line of solar powered lights and leap over them with friends and lovers of all kinds, declaring love and friendship.
• And don’t forget to lookout for fairies near springs, grottos and secret places.

In a quieter way we might use this time as an opportunity to connect to our sensuality in a positive creative way, feeling the movement of the body through the dance, rolling in the grass or walking barefoot, noticing the different textures and sensations , smelling the blossom, tasting the rain, really listening to the birdsong and noticing the astounding range of sounds, waking up the senses and bringing them alive.

Beltane energy is about celebrating our potency and potential, about unashamed positivity and outward-looking hope, using the spring energy to wake up and open our eyes to the potential in ourselves and others. A time for friends, lovers, unions and honouring of all kinds.

 

 Karen Jacks is a retired Occupational Therapist who has worked for the NHS for 35 years. After   retiring in 2018 Karen found daily life a bit bewildering after losing the structure and rhythms that are imposed on life by working full time and having a family. She says ‘I started to look towards the more natural cycles of life, like the   phases of the moon and the pattern of the seasons and   that led me via lots of routes to the idea of wheel of the   year, which divides the earths annual  cycle into eight divisions. I have found a beautiful connection, between the wisdom and beliefs of the old ways, which are grounded in living observations of the Earth’s natural cycles, to the changes in thoughts, emotions and energy levels I experience throughout the year. It has been hugely enlightening and reassuring, in an era when everything is online and changes happen so fast, the Earths rhythms and cycles are basically the same now as they ever were’.

Karen lives in Nottinghamshire with her husband and has two grown up children. She has just started to teach Tai Ji after long years of practice and her favourite place in the world is Beresford Dale in the Peak District.

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