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RITES OF BELTAINE

While Beltaine is undoubtedly a fun celebration, it is also a time of great ritual, and ceremonies are performed on May Day to fulfill a need or to honor the Gods and Goddesses. Some of these are described below, along with step-by-step instructions for performing two such rituals yourself.

Sacred Water and Holy Wells at Beltaine

Water played a significant role in May Day celebrations. Holy wells, springs, and lochs (lakes) were visited before sunrise. The waters were to be approached barefoot and in silence. One basic ritual was to walk around a well three times sunwise (clockwise), silver the water by offering a coin or other silver trinket, and drink the water while contemplating a need. A cloot (a rag or strip of cloth) was then tied to a nearby tree, and a pin or a gift of bread and cheese would be left at the well.1

Wells were “dressed” on the first Sunday and the first Monday in May by decorating them with flowers and greenery. Children would decorate “Fairy pools” deep in the woods with white stones because, by tradition, all white stones belong to the Fairies.

Morning dew was collected before sunrise by women dragging a rope made from the hair of cows’ tails across the grass while singing a milking charm like the one below from Carmichael’s Carmina Gadelica. The dew found under an Oak tree or on Ivy was considered especially potent.

Milking Song

Come, great Bride, the beauteous . . .

And place thine arms beneath my cow.

Ho my heifer, ho my gentle heifer.

Lovely black cow, pride of the sheiling,

First cow of the byre, choice mother of calves,

Wisps of straw round the cows of the townland,

A shackle of silk on my heifer beloved.

Ho my heifer, ho my gentle heifer.

My black cow, my black cow,

A like sorrow afflicts me and thee,

Thou grieving for thy lovely calf,

I for my beloved son under the sea,

My beloved only son under the sea.2

Washing one’s face in the Beltaine morning dew was said to ensure a beautiful complexion, while rolling naked in the dew would give you a beautiful body, and walking barefoot in May dew on the grass would bestow beautiful feet. Bathing hands in the grassy dew would keep them supple, and applying the dew to the eyes would make them fresh.

The dew could also be collected in a jar, be exposed to the Beltaine sunlight, and then be carefully filtered and preserved (a touch of vodka works nicely). The preserved dew was said to make one sexy and youthful and beautify the skin.3

Dew collected from Hawthorn branches ensured beauty to unmarried women and also protected them from the evil eye. And anyone in Cornwall who was not protected by a sprig of Hawthorn or Elm on Beltaine afternoon would be splashed with water by mischievous boys.4

The Goddess at Beltaine

O Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today

Queen of the angels and Queen of the May.

TRADITIONAL CATHOLIC HYMN

As with so many other Pagan festivals, the church took over the month of Flora and rededicated it to Mary. Flora was the Roman Goddess of Flowers and her festival was called the Floralia. Flora’s original Greek counterpart was Chloris, a nymph who dwelled in the Elysian Fields, one of the neighborhoods of Hades where the virtuous dead and initiates in the ancient mysteries resided after they died.

Zephyros, the Greek God of the West Wind and of spring, ravished Chloris and then married her. As a wedding gift he filled her fields with flowers and caused the spring rains that made the flowers grow. Through this nuptial gift Chloris became the Goddess of Spring and Goddess of Flowers.5

The Roman Floralia lasted from April 28 to May 2. Hares and goats were released into the circus, and Chickpeas, Vetches, and Lupines were scattered to the crowds as symbols of fertility. Lupine seeds, called Lupini beans, were eaten in celebration throughout the Roman Empire.

Everyone wore brightly colored clothing in Flora’s honor and wreaths of flowers in their hair. There were bawdy plays in which the actors performed naked, gladiatorial games and chariot races. The dancing and drinking continued long into the night.

In Ovid’s Fasti, Flora describes her role as the Goddess of Spring.

Perhaps you may think that I am queen only of dainty garlands; but my divinity has to do also with the tilled fields. If the crops have blossomed well, the threshing-floor will be piled high; if the vines have blossomed well, there will be wine; if the olive-trees have blossomed well, most buxom will be the year; and the fruitage will be according to the time of blossoming. If once the blossom is nipped, the vetches and beans wither, and thy lentils, O Nile that comest from afar, do likewise wither. Wines also bloom, laboriously stored in great cellars, and a scum covers their surface in the jars. Honey is my gift. ’Tis I who call the winged creatures, which yield honey, to the violet, and the clover, and the grey thyme. (’Tis I, too, who discharge the same function when in youthful years spirits run riot and bodies are robust.)6

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Excerpt from the painting Allegory of Spring by Sandro Botticelli depicting the scene in which Zephyrus grabs Chloris and thus creates Flora

Beltaine Rite to Honor Flora

A ritual to honor Flora should include flowers and fresh greenery. The participants should wear bright robes, especially green ones, with wreaths of flowers and leaves in their hair. Decorate the sacred space with flower wreaths and garlands of flowers.

Place a basket of wild and cultivated flowers on the altar. Let each participant choose one flower and meditate on its meaning. Have them give thanks to the flower, then turn to the person next to them and give them the flower, with a spoken blessing.

Pour offerings of wine, milk, and honey onto stones or into a hole in the ground or offer them to a special tree. If possible find a captive rabbit or hare and liberate it in Flora’s honor, and if you have a goat, invite it to join in the ritual.

(Note: I would not invoke Flora at the same time as the Daghda. Since they come from two different cultures—ones that were most often enemies—it would be pretty rude to do so!)

The God at Beltaine

The God most associated with Beltaine in a Celtic context is the Daghda. His titles include Daghda (Good God), Ruad Rofhessa (Red One of Great Knowledge), and Eochaid Ollathair (Great Horse Father). The latter is probably a reference to the horse as a symbol of sovereignty in Indo-European thinking.

Celtic kings had to be ritually married to the Land Goddess and the fate of the land, crops, fish, and herds were ritually tied to the “justice of the king.” For a ruler to be just he or she had to have a Druid at their side because the Druid was the one who had memorized the laws and precedents.

The king was basically a warrior who had been ritually elevated to nemed (sacred) status, while a Druid was born into the nemed class. The king and the Druid were known as the “two kidneys” of a kingdom, both of which were essential for the running of a tribe. The Daghda is the personification of the ideal male Druid, capable, powerful and wise; a “Druid’s Druid.”

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Depiction of Daghda by Jordan Brito
(Wikimedia Commons license CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Daghda is a God of great power and beauty (though Medieval Christian scribes describe him as a comical figure with a penis so large it has to be dragged behind him!). He possesses a magic staff that can kill with one blow or return the dead to life. The staff or club is called the lorg mór (the great staff) or the lorg anfaid (the staff of wrath). For me this magical staff is a symbol of the Daghda’s role as Father Nature. For those who know how to use Nature’s secrets there is blessing and healing, while for those who are not wise to the ways of Nature, death and injury await.

The Daghda is possessor of a magic cauldron known as the coire ansic (the un-dry cauldron) from which no person leaves unsatisfied. He has two magical pigs, one of which is always growing while the other is always roasting, three fruit trees that constantly bear fruit, and a vessel of liquid that is always full.7 This is another aspect of Father Nature—he is the ultimate provider of sustenance for all.

His harp is called Uaithne, and is also known as the Four Angled Music. It is a gorgeously ornamented magical harp made of Oak that, when played, puts the seasons into their correct order.8

Celtic cairns or burial mounds were seen as entrances to the Otherworld, and the largest and most impressive cairn in Ireland, Brú na Bóinne (Newgrange) in County Meath, was known as the home of the Daghda.

(Note: I would not invoke the Daghda at the same time as Flora. They come from two cultures that were most often enemies, and to invoke them together would not be wise.)

image Beltaine Rite to Honor the Daghda

Here’s one example of a ritual you can perform to venerate the Daghda.

  1. Purify each participant and all ritual tools with Sage, Juniper, Rosemary, Cedar, or any other aromatic sacred smoke.
  2. Process to the ritual area, singing.
  3. Make an offering at a distance from the ritual site to any mischievous Spirits, that they be satisfied and stay away from the ceremony.
  4. Invoke Manannán Mac Lir, God of the Sea Realm and psychopomp (guide of souls to the place of the dead), to open the veil between the worlds.
  5. Make offerings such as flowers, fruits, silver coins, ale, and whiskey to living water and to the ancestors. If possible circumambulate a sacred well or water source three times, singing.*109
  6. Make offerings such as herbs, flowers, fruits, compost, and mushrooms to a tree, invoking the Land Spirits and giving them thanks. Dance around the tree three times, singing.†110
  7. Make an offering to the daoine sidhe (Fairies) who help the crops to grow and enliven the living land. Berries and cream, oatmeal with butter or cream, or milk with honey would be appropriate.
  8. Circumambulate the fire altar three times, singing, then light the fire and invoke the Daghda. Make offerings to the fire such as dried herbs, scented, woods, oil, whiskey, butter, or ghee.*111
  9. Call in the five directions. In Celtic thinking the salmon is in the east, the direction of earth and abundance; the sow is in the south, the direction of water, poetry, and song; the stag is in the west, the direction of air and of history keeping; and the eagle is in the north, the direction of battle and of fire. In the center stands the Great Mare of Sovereignty, in the place of rulership and mastery.†112
  10. Make offerings to the Daghda of songs, music, poetry. Read or recite a story about him or make a sacrificial offering of artwork, crafts, foods, etc., which are burned in the fire to send them to the Sky Realm, or flung into living water.
  11. Make your petition to the Daghda if you have a request or need.
  12. Do a divination to see if the Daghda has accepted the rite and request. A very simple way to do this is to stand silently and wait for a sign. For example, if a large bird flies overhead or an Oak leaf falls at your feet, or if there is a sudden wind or thunder or the fire pops loudly, those are very good signs. Another way is to use Ogham fews or any other divination technique and have a seer read the signs.‡113
  13. When you are sure the rite has been accepted, give thanks to the Daghda.
  14. Give thanks also to the salmon, sow, stag, eagle and the Great Mare of Sovereignty for their help.
  15. Give thanks to fire.
  16. Give thanks to the sidhe for their presence.
  17. Give thanks to the trees and the Nature Spirits.
  18. Give thanks to the waters and to the ancestors.
  19. Ask Manannán Mac Lir to close the veil and be sure to thank him.
  20. Process back home, singing.

image Beltaine Rite of Purification by Fire

Here is another approach for honoring the God at Beltaine. It’s a ritual that I composed for the Order of WhiteOak. The rite involves two fire altars and a smaller third fire from which to light the larger ones. The two bonfires act as a kind of portal through which animals and people pass to be purified as they move into the new season of summer.

The deities invoked are Belenos, a Celtic sun God who rides across the sky in his horse drawn chariot, and Belisama, a Gaulish and British Goddess. Both deities have names derived from Celtic root bel, meaning “bright, dazzling,” “shining,” and “fountain,” possibly implying sacred springs and sunlight on waters.9 Belenos was worshipped from Northern Italy through Gaul and into Britain. Belisama had a nemeton (sacred enclosure) at Vaison la Romaine.10

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Let two large ritual fires and one small fire be constructed by nine persons carrying nine sacred woods, or let the fires be composed entirely of Oak. These fires shall be sacred fires, kindled by the sun passing through a crystal, a thunderstone (flint), or a fire drill (using powdered mistletoe as tinder) or from “wildfire” caught from a lightning strike.

The nine sacred woods shall be a follows:

Oak, the tree of the High Gods

Willow, a tree sacred to poets

Hazel, the tree of wisdom

Alder, the tree of protection

Birch, the tree of new beginnings

Ash, the tree that spans the Three Worlds

Yew, the tree of immortality

Elm the favorite of the Elves

Apple, the tree of love, favorite of the deer or Pine, the tree of peace

Let the tuath (tribe, people) rise before dawn to watch the lighting of the fires.

Let the first sacred fire be kindled in a small pyre on the perimeter, in preparation for the rite.

The two large fires shall be consecrated to Belenos and to Belisama, deities of beauty, brightness, and fire. Let a Druid bring fire from the small pyre to the flame of Belenos. Let a Druidess bring fire from the small pyre to the flame of Belisama.

Let the tuath chant the names of these Gods while the Druids pour whiskey, oil, or ghee or place dried herbs or butter onto the flames.

The Druid and Druidess shall speak these words:

Hail summer, season of light and of life. Blessed are those who stand here today, witness to the ancient rite. To everyone who passes between the flames, whether human or beast, may health and prosperity come! May the fires bring us fields of ripe corn and fruit in abundance. May the fires bring us streams of white milk, freedom from conquest, fair justice and righteous law, comfort and abundance in every home. May the fires bring us rivers of fish, forests filled with strong woods, great abundance of clean water, ornaments of silver and gold, rich soil, sheep with fine fleece, fat pigs and healthy cattle. May every disease and unhappiness be purged from those who walk here, in the name of Belenos and Belisama!

Then shall the tuath walk between the two fires. Let those who are too young or too weak be carried, even the aged and the infirm. Then shall the animals be led through the flames as a blessing on them. Then shall music be played and let there be dancing around the fires. Let torches lit from the sacred flames be carried around the perimeters of the land to bless it. Let torches lit from the sacred flames be carried around the field boundaries to bless them.

When the fires have burned lower let the young of the tuath leap the flames, for it is the height of their leaping that will ensure the height of the grain. And later, let those who are able leap across the coals.

Let the day be spent in feasting and merrymaking, and let everyone who wishes it carry an ember home to rekindle their hearths and altars and bless their own gardens and fields.