Beltane – April 30th / May 1st

Irish legends say that the beginning of the summer season for the Tuatha De Danann and the Milesians started at on May 1st Beltane. Our people would have great bonfires to mark it as a time of purification and transition, heralding in the new season with hope of a good harvest later in the year, it was also accompanied with various rituals to protect our people from any harm by spirits from other worlds, such as the Aos Si. Like our other Pagan festival Samhain, it is the opposite to Beltane on October 31st, Beltane was also a time when the Otherworld was seen as being particularly close at hand.

Ancient Pagan traditions say that Beltane marks the emergence of the young God into manhood. Stirred by the great energies at work in nature, he starts to desire the Goddess. They fall in love, lie among the grasses and blossoms, and unite. The Goddess becomes pregnant of the God.

Early Gaelic sources from around the 10th century state that the druids of the community would create a need-fire on top of a hill on this day and drive the village’s cattle through the fires to purify them and bring luck (Eadar da theine Bhealltainn in Scottish Gaelic, ‘Between two fires of Beltane’).

Beltane is a specifically Gaelic holiday. Other Celtic cultures, such as the Welsh, Bretons, and Cornish, do not celebrate Beltane, per se. However, they celebrated or celebrate festivals similar to it at the same time of year. In Wales, the day is known as Calan Mai, and the Gaulish name for the day is Belotenia.

In Modern Irish, Oidhche Bealtaine or Oiche Bealtaine is May Eve, and La Bealtaine is May Day. Mi na Bealtaine, or simply Bealtaine is the name of the month of May. A revived Beltane Fire Festival has been held every year since 1988 during the night of 30 April on Calton Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland and attended by up to 15,000 people.

Gather up some plants or flowers to display in your home, we have so many beautiful flowers and plants available to us at this time of the year so enjoy them. You could also braid your hair, and weave in some flowers to celebrate Beltane.

Source. Beltane Times by S. Keltoi