The Sacred Fire Festival . . .

Beltane is one of the great fire festivals, and marks the beginning of the light half of the year to the Celtic peoples. It can be celebrated on May 1st. or when the sun reaches 15° of Taurus. Samhain, six months later, is the second great fire festival.

Fire was held sacred to the ancient peoples of the earth. In the earliest of times, fire was obtained only when lightening struck a tree. Without fire, the tribe would die, so it was of utmost importance that the fire be kept alive. If the "fire-watcher" let the fire die, he or she could be put to death. Later, humankind learned how to make fire using a flint stone. The flint, therefore, was viewed as a magickal and sacred object.

It is not surprising then, that people thought it was bad luck for the hearth fire to go out, except on May Eve when it was deliberately extinguished. A new fire was laid ready in the hearth for lighting from a firebrand taken from the Bel-fire on May Day.

To create fire in Celtic Great Britain, a hole was bored into a well-seasoned oak plank with an oak boring tool, called a gimlet or wimble, causing enough friction to start the Bel-fire when fungus from birch trees was used as tinder. Little wonder that oak and birch are two of the sacred woods.

The meaning of Beltane is Bel-fire. Bel was a god of fire and light. On May Day, the Bel-fires were lit on the hilltops to celebrate the sun warming the land. Summer had arrived, the season of fertility. With this in mind, men and women jumped the Bel-fire for luck in finding a mate, and married women jumped over it in order to become pregnant. Cattle were driven between the Bel-fires to ensure a good milk supply and a healthy herd.

With the month of May, the land comes into full bloom. This is the time of the Sacred Marriage of the Goddess to the young God. The Goddess representing the land, and the God representing the force of life. Beltane is the sacred marriage of the Maiden Goddess and because of this, it was considered bad luck for people to marry in May. This is why June became the month of weddings. The month is named for the Goddess Mai.

The May Pole is traditionally is a fir tree stripped of all branches except those at the very top and set upright in a deep hole which was then filled in to support the tree. Ribbons of red and white were attached to the top, with the ends decorated with spring flowers. Today many bright colours are often used for the ribbons. The Maypole represents the God in the Sacred Marriage. The dancers each take the end of a ribbon and dance deosil (sunwise), weaving in and out. The ribbons are then loosely tied together when they reach the bottom of the pole or the end of the ribbons.

The herald of May Day is the "Hobby Horse", who leads the procession to

the May Pole and into the hills where the fires were lit at dawn. The dancer portraying the 'Hobby Horse' was dressed in black and wore a mask of black, red, and white. These are the colours of the Triple Goddess--black for the Crone, red for the Mother, and white for the Maiden.

If you are planning to erect a Maypole, pour an offering of milk or cream into the hole before erecting the pole.

In Germany, they celebrated Walpurgisnacht, after the Saxon Goddess, Walpurga. Elder blossoms were worn to enable the wearer to see spirits and to reverse any evil.

The expression "A Maying" comes from the gathering of hawthorn, which was believed to be unlucky if picked before May Eve. This often meant staying out all night and making love under the stars. This was referred to as a "greenwood marriage" or a "woodland wedding."

Wear green on May Day, for it is the colour of the earth and denotes resurrection and rebirth.

May Day celebrations can sometimes last from dawn to dawn. An afternoon nap is not unknown among the elders, while the younger folks will slip away into the wood.

We at Deerglade use words based on those of  Pauline Campanelli in Ancient Ways: Reclaiming Pagan Traditions, Llewellyn Publications, 1997.