Beltane (May Day)
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)
This occurs on May 1 and was considered to be the beginning of summer in the Celtic culture. As this is one of the fire festivals, it was customary for huge bonfires (also called balefires) to be lit, in recognition of the sun’s crucial energy and to increase its waxing powers. Beltane is the most joyful and frolicsome of the fire festivals, most likely because its central premise apparently was sexuality and fertility. However, the association of fertility was for animals and crops as well as humans. The Celtic farmers took their livestock out to pasture at this time, first guiding them between two fires as a ritual of purification and fertility.
The festivals acknowledged the Wedding of Heaven and Earth, the Bridal feast of the Goddess. Older people felt young again and the young were filled with vitality, desire and were feeling very frisky. It was a time for ritual coupling. Women and men would go off into the woods to search for green boughs and flowers, particularly the hawthorn flower, due to its aphrodisiacal qualities. They would often stay out all night, dancing, singing and making love, hoping to awaken the fertility of the land as well. They would also search for the perfect tree or pole and bring it with them when they returned to the villages. They would then stand this pole up in the ground, decorate it with ribbons and flowers and dance around it, weaving the ribbons as they go. Hence, the origin of the well-known Maypole. The Maypole was a phallic symbol representative of the God penetrating the womb of the earth (the Goddess).
Just as in other major festivals, another tradition at Beltane was to jump over the balefires as well as dance around them. Individuals would bound over the fire to guarantee fertility, good health and spiritual cleansing for protection in the year to come. Couples would leap together over the fire for the same reasons, and also to ensure a happy and healthy marriage. Additional customs were to drink from a well before sunrise, bathe in the morning dew, which was supposed to enhance one’s beauty, and adorn yourself with flowers.
Although May Day is not an actual Christian holiday, it is considered a secular festival honoring the coming of spring. The ribbon dance around the Maypole to make it colorful can represent people coming together and contributing to make new things happen. If not actually mating during Beltane, we can think about incorporating the feminine and masculine sides of our own individual natures, one of the key objectives in spiritual work.