· Is celebrated on the first of May to celebrate the ‘half way’ point between the spring and summer Equinox.
· Normally celebrated at the start of a ‘moon cycle’ (which is around the 5th/6th May) but traditionally on the 1st May.
· Celebrates the coming of summer “celebrates the arrival of light after so much darkness”.
· Beltane in Celtic means ‘fires of Bel’ and in Welsh is known as ‘Calan Mai’.
· In ancient Ireland fires were lit for this celebration, on top of the hill and drove the villages cattle through the fires to purify them and bring them luck for the harvest to come later in the year.
· The fires were also jumped through to increase fertility.
· People would often jump through the fires to bring the purity and luck to themselves.
· Other rituals would often include courting:
° Young couples collecting blossoms in the woods and lighting fires in the evening.
° The rituals would often lead to matches and marriages wither immediately or in the coming summer/autumn.
· Another ritual was the ‘bless’ your garden by making love within it. Young people would spend the entire night ‘a-maying’ then dance around a phallic maypole the next morning.
· The largest Beltane festival celebrations are currently held in Edinburgh.
This information was found at:
· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beltane
· http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/paganism/holydays/beltane_1.shtml
No comments:
Post a Comment