beltane
Spring’s Delight
Name of Sabbat: Beltane (also spelled Bealtaine, Beltain, Beltene, Beltin, and Belltaine; also known as May Eve, Walpurgis Night, and May Day)
Date: May 1 or April 30
Pronunciation: “BELL-tane”
Beltane was originally an Irish-Celtic holiday that later spread throughout the British Isles. There are several different spellings of Beltane, but the most familiar one (and the one I use in this book) comes from Sir James Frazer and his book The Golden Bough. The origin of the word Beltane most likely lies with the Celtic root word bel, which translates as “bright” or “fortunate.” Many erroneously link Beltane to particular deities, most notably the Austrian Belenus or the Canaanite Baal (later turned into a Jewish/Christian demon), but there’s no evidence in Ireland (or anywhere else) for this.43
Beltane first shows up in the historical record in the year 900 CE, where it’s referenced in the Sanus Chormaic (or Cormac’s Glossary), a glossary of Irish words most likely written by someone connected to the Catholic Church. The author of Cormac’s Glossary doesn’t mention Witches in their work, but they do mention Druids:
Belltaine ‘May-day’ i.e. bil-tene i.e. lucky fire, i.e. two fires which Druids used to make with great incantations, and they used to bring the cattle [as a safeguard] against the diseases of each year to those fires [in marg.] they used to drive the cattle between them. 44
The Beltane (or Belltaine) outlined in Cormac’s Glossary doesn’t have much in common with most modern Beltane celebrations. For many centuries (if not millennia), Beltane was primarily a fire festival.
Even after the British Isles had mostly converted to Christianity, fire continued to play a large role in Beltane celebrations (which in some places were celebrated on May 2). Fire was used to protect people, villages, and especially cattle right up until the early twentieth century. In modern-day Edinburgh, Scotland, Beltane is still celebrated as a fire festival, though its reestablishment as a fire festival is relatively recent, having started in 1988.45
The Irish weren’t alone in celebrating late April/early May as a fire festival. A similar thing was happening in Germany on Walpurgis Night (April 30). Named after the Christian Saint Walpurga (710–778), who helped Christianize Germany, Walpurgis Night was thought to be an especially active night for Witches in some parts of Germany. So great was the presence of Witches on that particular evening that the night was also known as Hexennacht, or “Witches’ Night.” Scared Christians built bonfires to keep the Witches away and invoked Saint Walpurga to protect them. Due to the distance between Germany and Ireland, it’s unlikely that Beltane and Walpurgis Night are directly related, but it’s interesting that the energies on that particular night inspired similar practices.
Beltane, as we know it today as Witches, comes in large part from the English celebration of May Day. May Day itself might possibly be connected to the Germanic paganisms that were practiced in England during the medieval period or somehow linked to Beltane as it was practiced in Ireland and later Scotland. Celebrations near the first of May can be found throughout Europe (not just Great Britain) and are generally festive, which is in direct contrast to the Irish-Celtic Beltane.
It’s from the English celebrations of May Day that we get the maypole, Jack in the-Green, May Queens, and a Beltane that is more celebratory than ominous. By the end of the nineteenth century, many of the traditions that were a part of the English May Day were being associated with ancient pagan practices and, by extension, Beltane. Things like the maypole and May Queens (some of which we’ll look at more extensively shortly) might very well be survivals from the pagan past, but they weren’t originally associated with the Irish-Celtic Beltane.
The first reference to the English celebration of May Day dates to 1240 and was written by a bishop demeaning his priests for “games which they call the bringing-in of May.” 46 From 1240 right up until the present day, reflections on the English May Day have revolved around joy, games, frivolity, and dalliances. It was a time to decorate with what was in season, namely flowers and other blooming foliage. The decorations we most associate with Beltane today come from the “less heavy” celebration of May Day and the start of the English summer.
What I think many people miss when it comes to the sabbats is that how we celebrate them should be directly tied to the ideas and themes that resonate most within us. Many people see spring as a celebratory time of year, and because of that, Beltane has become a sabbat focused on things that are joyous: the green earth, fertility, frolicking, and fun. The sabbats are a cause for celebration and Beltane is the biggest celebration of them all. There were no Druids doing maypole dances in the year 100 CE, but that’s inconsequential.
Ways to Celebrate Beltane
My earliest Beltane rituals generally revolved around the idea of the Maiden Goddess consummating her relationship with the young Horned God. My friends and I often did rituals featuring our young Horned God (the Goat Boy) chasing the Maiden before finally wooing her and going back to her bedchamber. In recent years I have decided such rituals are problematic because they don’t do a very good job of portraying consent and they limit expressions of human sexuality to the female-male dynamic. I still think the idea of beginning a sexual relationship can be a welcome one at a Beltane ritual, as long as it’s done in a way that explicitly conveys consent and is open to many interpretations of sexuality.
In recent years I’ve seen female representatives of the young Goddess joining together to celebrate the earth’s fertility at Beltane, and pairs of male ones too. Witchcraft is a path that deals with adult issues in a responsible way, and ignoring the desire many of us have for sex and companionship seems just as limiting as devoting our rites only to female-male sexual union. Our circles should be inclusive spaces, so whatever we do for a Beltane ritual should resonate with everyone we celebrate with. And private explorations of love and desire are most certainly a tradition for many at Beltane. It was such a part of my early life as a Witch that my friends and I used to call the sounds of desire we’d hear on May Eve “Beltaining.”
Though it generally takes place away from most Witch circles, the custom of Morris dancing on Beltane morning can be found all over the English-speaking world and beyond. The exact origins of Morris dancing will probably always be in dispute (is it an ancient pagan practice or a more modern one?), but it’s been a part of Beltane traditions for hundreds of years. Luckily for us, many Morris sides (a side is a name for a troop of Morris dancers) contain a couple of Pagan folk, and if you know just the right person, you might be able to work some Morris dancing into your Beltane ritual.
The maypole is seen by many as the primary symbol of Beltane, and it’s a good one, but it doesn’t have to be the focus of every Beltane ritual. A good maypole dance before or after your primary Beltane rite can be a joyous end or beginning to a full day of festivities. Traditionally, kings and queens were selected at many May Day and Beltane celebrations, and rituals proclaiming everyone in attendance the Queen or King of the May can be a lot of fun. Alternatively, simply picking two people as May Day royalty and giving them certain responsibilities both during and after ritual is a great way to make the most of this old custom.
The first Beltane celebrations were fire festivals, and kindling a Beltane fire can help us get in touch with our ancient ancestors. Though we don’t associate Beltane with protective magick very often today, Beltane fires were lit primarily for that purpose. They were thought to keep maleficent fairy folk away at a crucial time of the year—planting season. Cattle were also made to jump over small fires to safeguard their health in the summer and to make sure their milk didn’t sour.47 In some parts of Scotland, the ashes from Beltane fires were used as a form of protection and scattered around the village or inside one’s home.
For many people, Beltane is the height of spring and their first real chance to spend some quality time outdoors. When I lived in Michigan, Beltane was a celebration of high spring. There were (finally) trees with leaves on them, and the scent of flowers. When you’ve been cooped up inside for the first half of the year, that stuff means a great deal. Celebrating those events also connects us to the Wheel of the Year in a very real and tangible way.
The tradition of Jack in the Green has been linked to the start of spring by many Witches over the years. Originally a promotion for chimney sweeps, the colorful figure known as Jack in the Green evolved out of a custom featuring dancing milkmaids with their heads and milk pails adorned with flowers and May greenery. Eventually this evolved into a decorated wooden pyramid on top of their heads, which was later picked up by English rag pickers and eventually chimney sweeps.48
I’ve always seen Jack in the Green as a Green Man–like figure celebrating the joys of spring. This makes him a very Pagan and, by extension, Witch-like figure in my book, and bringing him into our May Day rites seems more than appropriate. Beltane is a time for joy and is one of the most beloved sabbats on the Witch’s Wheel of the Year.