JD Hortwort
May Day—or, for the Celts who are reading this, Beltaine—is one of the most ubiquitous celebrations in the northern hemisphere. As a celebration that definitely finds its roots in Pagan traditions, it continues to be marked with festivals, parties, bonfires, and more, especially in Europe and many Third World countries. In fact, it could almost be said to rival the Winter Solstice and Samhain for its acceptance in the mundane world.
Even the stodgy old Communist Party in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries seized on the date. Of course, they first changed the name to “the International Workers’ Day.” In Russia, that name changed again in the 1990s to “the Day of Spring and Labor,” which has a much gentler ring to it.
It seems people everywhere in the northern hemisphere can find an excuse to honor this day, which, for all intents and purposes, has some pretty randy origins. For our ancestors, this was the time to celebrate the creative energies of the universe, in the field and in the barnyard. Our ancestors weren’t too averse to taking part in the action, either.
Is it Beltane or Beltine or Beltaine
or Some Other Word?
Modern Pagans have always known if you’re going to be in this tradition, you’re going to do a lot of sorting out. When it comes to Beltane (or however you like to spell it), it really depends on the country of origin.
The Irish might spell it Beltine, Beltaine, or Belltaine. A Scotsman might say Cetamain. The Manx word is Boaldyn. Most modern writers spell it Beltane. Other spellings include Beltaine, Bealtaine, Beltain, Bealteine, and Bealltuinn.
Regardless, the first day of May is celebrated with bale fires, handfastings, the gathering of herbs, and general randiness—if you have a field of wheat that needs a little encouraging.
Beyond the Maypole
Mention Beltane and most people will immediately think of the Maypole—that very masculine symbol of the holiday. Beltane certainly would not be the same without it, any more than you can have a Beltane celebration without colorful ribbons, bright clothing, and flowery headdresses.
At the House of Akasha (a Celtic spiritual organization in Greensboro, North Carolina), our Maypole is a permanent fixture at a special spot on our meeting grounds. There’s no fixed height for a Maypole that we have ever determined, but I would caution against making it too tall.
Before we made our permanent pole, we raised an ambitious one of about fifteen feet. It was beautifully festooned with multi-colored ribbons and took what seemed like forever to braid in our Maypole dance. Let me just say, nobody needed ale or May wine for the next hour or so after it was complete. We were all too dizzy from the dance!
Fewer folks in the modern world mark the holiday with balefires today, but fire is a central focus of Pagan May Day observations. The lighting of the balefire is done to celebrate the growing strength of the sun and to purify those who can jump over it of any lingering diseases from winter.
In the modern world, candles can be an acceptable alternative, especially if weather keeps the ritual celebration indoors or if no private space outdoors is available. Plus, the older members of our group, myself included, find it much easier to hop over a candlestick than to jump over a balefire.
Beltane has been important in Ireland since the Sons of Mil were believed to have arrived there on May 1 to engage the Tuatha de Danaan. Irish Celts were accustomed to mark Beltane with a ceremony to open the pastures. Great fires would be built and the herd animals shepherded between them to gain the blessings of Bel or Belanus. Bel (Bile—Irish; Beli—Welsh; or Belenus—Gaul) was the name European Celts gave their sun god.
Fewer folks still in the modern world pick up on the association of sacred waters and trees with this time of the year. We are blessed at the House of Akasha to have a place to worship that includes both running water and an abundance of trees. We don’t call our stream “sacred,” but we do find it to be a special place.
Sacred Waters
Hundreds of years ago, people made pilgrimages to sacred waters in hopes of cures for illness or blessings for good fortune at important times of the year, such as Beltane, Midsummer, and Lughnasadh.
Sacred wells and springs abounded in Ireland and throughout Europe. Every country had its sacred rivers or bodies of water too. Invariably, beside most wells there were important trees or shrubs suitable for leaving messages on to entice the gods to intervene on one’s behalf.
No one could be surprised that water, most often associated with goddesses, might be venerated by ancient people. In so many senses, it was the “elixir of life.” Safe, fresh water could insure survival for people and livestock. If that water came bubbling up from a mysterious opening in the earth, it provided a natural attraction. If it was naturally heated, as some thermal springs were, and blended with healing minerals, how could one deny the presence of a divine force?
Although many wells and springs sacred to the Celts were later rededicated to Christian saints, the practices that went on around them to coax that divine force into action remained for a long time rooted in Pagan ideas. Visitors still came to light candles, pay a token, or leave portions of bandages for themselves or sick friends too ill to travel.
Veneration of waters wasn’t limited to wells and springs. The Danube River in Germany is sacred to Danu. The Seine River in France gets its name from the Celtic goddess Sequana, honored for her healing gifts. Sinainn gave her name to the River Shannon in Ireland. Like her, Boann gave her name to the River Boyne in Ireland.
Archeologists have found major rivers in the British Isles and Europe to be literal treasure chests. The faithful brought offerings to toss into the waters in exchange for favors. Warriors who had pledged a percentage of their battle bounty to one deity or another would sometimes deposit their pledge into rivers to be carried to the otherworld. Likewise, the heads of leaders and important members of the Tuatha might be taken to an important river as a final resting place.
Sacred Trees
Beside these wells, springs, and rivers were trees. Trees, with their obvious masculine association, played an important part in the lives of ancient people. Tribal names were frequently tied to specific trees. For example, the Eubron tribe in Gaul were the people of the yew.
If you really wanted to demonstrate your military prowess and strike fear in the hearts of your enemy, you and your troops would sweep into the center of the opposing side’s settlement and cut down their sacred tree or bile (be it yew, oak, ash, birch, etc.).
The name of the site of Cill Dara (or Kildare for modern folks) in Ireland, sacred to St. Brigid, translates into “the church of the oak.” Nine magical hazelnut trees were said to stand at the head waters of the River Boyne. From them dropped nuts that conferred the knowledge of everything. Or you could just eat the salmon that swam in the waters behind the tree. They had been feasting on the nuts all their lives.
Some trees, like the alder and the ash, were so revered they could not be cut down. The ash tree bestowed protection from fairies and bad magic to those who carried a bit of it with them. Although not limited to ash trees, the Maypole was said to have been frequently made of ash.
When any of these trees grew beside a sacred well or river, they were considered a direct connection to the otherworld where deities and other magical creatures dwelt. People visited the waters to wash away their illnesses, everything from fever to arthritis. Other folks made wishes for fortune and, in some cases, misfortune. The misfortune, of course, was usually directed at someone else.
To mark their visit, they would tie bits of rag onto the tree. In some cases, they left monetary tokens embedded in the tree bark. Who was going to steal it and risk the ire of the otherworldly denizens!
The concept of the sacred water and sacred tree comes together in the love story of Boann and the Dagda. Boann is the goddess of the River Boyne that flows beside Newgrange, the home of the Dagda. Some evidence suggests the root of his name means oak. Together, they gave birth to the Celtic god of love, poetry, and youth, Aengus mac Og. It’s the age-old story of water supporting the tree that bears the fruit that sustains the people of the Tuatha.
In this story, Aengus eventually tricks the Dagda out of his home and Boann may or may not have been drowned when she released the waters that became the River Boyne, but nobody ever said the old stories all come to a happy ending.
Honoring with Water and Tree
In an effort to honor what we understand are Celtic traditions, we can mark our Beltane celebrations with more than just a Maypole to symbolize the divine male. Beltane is a time to celebrate both the masculine and feminine energies. After all, it takes both to procreate!
This is a time when both energies are vibrant. They are joined by a common passion and goal: the perpetuation of the species. In the case of the god and goddess, it is the perpetuation of all species, plant and animal.
In the House of Akasha, we have done our celebrations in several ways. Sometimes, members have gathered in the running waters of the stream adjacent to our ritual area to let the waters renew us. We have included plants or planting exercises to mark the importance of the growing season to our ancestors.
But, perhaps most importantly, we take time to relate to the natural area around us. We have conducted meditations in which we see ourselves rooted in the mundane world but connected to the Otherworld. Our spot has one particular beech tree with roots that have grown in the general shape of a human body. It’s a good spot to recline, enter into a meditative state, and feel your body being absorbed for a brief time into the very essence of the tree. Where the journey takes you after that is up to you as meditator.
At Beltane, just as at Samhain, the veil is thin. It invites us to respectfully acknowledge that which we cannot see, that which we cannot explain, and that which can enrich our lives throughout the course of the year.
References
McCaffrey, Carmel and Leo Eaton. In Search of Ancient Ireland: The Origins of the Irish from Neolithic Times to the Coming of the English. Chicago: New Amsterdam Books, 55, 83–84. 2002.
Ellis, Peter Berresford. The Druids. London: Constable and Company, 121–135. 1994.