Beltane

The origin of the word "Beltane" is unclear, but it is fairly certain that the "-tane" part comes from the Celtic word for fire. Several of the Solar festivals are associated with fire, but the fire of Beltane has a particular significance. In ancient times, the art of making fire was known only to a few. Hunters and travellers would know it, but, in the villages the secret was carefully preserved by just a few privileged men. These men, who might well have been the priests, tended the fire, called the Need Fire, that burned perpetually in the village's main hall; from which all the other fires in all the dwellings of the village would be lit. Once a year, on the eve of Beltane, all the fires in the village would be extinguished, including the Need Fire. The keepers of the flame would go to the woods in the darkness of the night to collect the nine sacred woods to make a new Need Fire, which through their art would blaze up afresh the following morning, and from which everyone in the village would ultimately derive their own source of light and heat.

At this time of year, people could also burn their winter bedding and floor coverings, ready for them to be replaced afresh. Referred to as a Gaelic ceremony, it has been celebrated for thousands of years throughout the United Kingdom and Europe. In Ireland, it supposedly marks the arrival of the Gaels on to Irish shores.

Celtic festivals often tied in with the needs of the community. In spring time, at the beginning of the farming calendar, everybody would be hoping for a fruitful year for their families and fields. Beltane rituals would often include courting, for example, young men and women collecting blossoms in the woods and lighting fires in the evening. These rituals would often lead to matches and marriages, either immediately in the coming summer or autumn.

Early accounts of Beltane celebrations have been passed down by Julius Caesar, whose description of the Scottish Celts celebrations of the festival must be seen as biased. Supposedly, animal sacrifices would be made each Beltane to ensure the fertility of their crops, however, every five years the Highland Celts would sacrifice humans, the numbers being made up of convicted criminals and prisoners of war. They would be sacrificed by the Druids, though the manner of their death would vary. Many were supposedly shot with arrows, but descriptions of Gaulish Celt ceremonies have them being burnt alive in huge wicker men.

Apart from this, there is little evidence to suggest the use of the wicker man but many Iron Age 'bog bodies' have been found preserved in peat in the British Isles and Northern Europe. These show signs of having been ritually murdered in a variety of ways (strangulation, blows to the head, throat cutting and a combination of each). While we do not know if they were sacrificed on Beltane, it does give a glimpse into the savage part of ancient religion.

Fires were lit on hilltops at Beltane as late as the 1700s, and Beltane is still a major ceremonial date in the Wiccan and Pagan year, although today these don't include sacrifices! Later accounts of Beltane festivities refer to a Beltane Cake, baked with eggs. A special piece of this referred to as the Beltane Carline spelt symbolic doom to whoever was unlucky enough to receive it. Once identified, the person with the Beltane Carline would be set upon by some of the others who would attempt to throw them on the fire. This would be prevented by the rest of the festival-goers. The unlucky person would then be considered a symbolic sacrifice and referred as being dead for the rest of the evening.

In nature, the seeds planted last November at Samhain (Sow-an) and moved on their own for the first time in February at Imbolc, are now up and growing (think on the symbolism of this). So for the Celts, this was a time of fertility. The May Pole's phallic shape is but a mild hint at the kind of spring revels that went on during this day and night sacred to the Sun God Bel. The idea of the Sun being masculine is actually a relatively new idea - no more than four or five thousand years old. Originally in the British Isles (as was also the case in most of this Earth of ours), the Sun was a Goddess. (see McCrickard) Bridget, Brighid, Bride and Brigantia, the deity of Imbolc's names.

So at Beltane there is the crowning of the Queen of the May and her King. In their honour, the people dance around the May Pole. Bel supplanted Bride in the British Isles. He was part of the patriarchal takeover of Europe. In Ireland, Bilé, the God of the underworld, is the father of Miled. The sons of Mil (read: Miled), or the Milesians, were the Goidelic Celts who took over Ireland from the Partholanians. They came from Spain, the Gaelic land of the dead. Bel was honoured at Beltane not only as a god of death, but also as a god of life as well, and was depicted as a solar deity. He gained victory over the powers of darkness by bringing the people to within sight of another harvest. At Beltane, all fires were extinguished, and Bel's fire was created from the sacred rays of the Sun, "the sacred fires of Bel." This Fire was then carried to all the hearths of the land.

Beltane is a double Fire Festival, and Fire is a wonderful tool for looking into the past. The cycle is well up and needs fertilization for the next rush of growth, but here is a moment to remember the roots, where this cycle began. How many times have you sat around a camp fire or stared at the burning logs in a fire place and ruminated on the past? As one looks at the glowing embers at the base of the fire, the burning wood takes on all kinds of shapes and meanings - reflections of the past. Beltane is that time for one last look back, one final deep fertilizing breath before the time of massive growth in summer. Fire energizes that growth and fruitfulness, just as the heat of the returning Sun warms the Earth and nourishes the growing seedlings.

Other festivities involved fire which was thought to cleanse, purify and increase fertility. Cattle were often passed between two fires and the properties of the flame and the smoke were seen to ensure the fertility of the herd. Today it is seen to have purifying qualities which cleanse and revitalise. People, leap over the Beltane fire to bring good fortune, fertility (of mind, body and spirit) and happiness through the coming year. But be warned, some say that if you leap sky-clad with your loved one over the Beltane Fire, it insures that you will have a baby in the coming year.

At Beltane the God (to whom the Goddess gave birth at the Winter Solstice) achieves the strength and maturity to court and become lover to the Goddess. So although what happens in the fields has lost its significance for most Pagans today, the creation of fertility is still an important issue.

The Goddess manifests herself in three ways. At Imbolc we see her as the Virgin Bride. Here at Beltane, and again at Lughnasad in early August, the manifestation of the Goddess we see is the Mother - she becomes this, many times, as a result of Beltane lovemaking. She is woman in her prime. Lover. Fully aware. In her power. At Samhain around the first of November, we shall see her in the final phase of this trinity, the wise old woman or the Crone.

Although Beltane is the most overtly sexual festival, Pagans rarely use sex in their rituals although rituals often imply sex and fertility. The tradition of dancing round the maypole contains sexual imagery and is still very popular with modern Pagans. But the maypole is not only a phallic symbol; it is, rather, a symbol of the flames of the new Need Fire for the year to come soaring up to the heavens.

Beltane is also a feast of fertility. The fields are sown, the crops are growing, and in the cycle of the farming year, although there is always some work to be done, there is now a little time to relax and enjoy things for a while before the next surge of activity at harvest time. It may also be a time of charity, when those who have a little left over from their winter store can share with those who are less fortunate than themselves.