Mark Megahan
Ah, Spring has sprung. The Celtic folk of Ireland and thereabouts call it “Beltane” and they’ll be lighting the annual bonfire right on schedule, May first. Or, as the Pagans like to call it, May Day.
May Day rites of Spring
May day is conveniently located in the calendar half-way between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. The wet cold showers of April are over and it’s time for the rich and fertile Mother Earth to stretch and reach for her mug of coffee, then wander through the fields.
Back in the mists of time, primitive humans figured out ways to celebrate the season when it’s finally warm enough to go outside, take off your clothes, and have your first good bath in months. Why not light a bonfire, roast an ox or something, then and have an after dinner orgy for good measure? After all, there wouldn’t be anything good on TV for centuries.
The May Day Beltane festival was so popular it usually got swinging the evening before, to kiss the last night of April goodbye. They say its “a time to welcome the abundance of the fertile earth, and a day that has a long (and sometimes scandalous) history.”
Orgies aren’t as popular these days as they were then but Beltane still gets celebrated every year.
The May Day focus is always on fertility, from the May pole to the bonfires but village celebrations tone it down for the kiddies.
Everyone knows the real story is about “the time when the earth mother opens up to the fertility god, and their union brings about healthy livestock, strong crops, and new life all around.”
Pole dancing, Celtic style
No May Day celebration would be complete without a pole to dance around. After everyone gorged and danced and fornicated around the bonfire all night, the village would greet the dawn by stringing ribbons from a tall pole.
“Young people came and danced around the pole, each holding the end of a ribbon. As they wove in and out, men going one way and women the other, it created a sleeve of sorts — the enveloping womb of the earth — around the pole.”
With all the flowers blooming and the birds and the bees buzzing through the air, it’s no wonder folk start getting frisky. What a better time than May Day to celebrate “the sacred feminine energy of the universe.”
Whether you take off your clothes and dance naked around a bonfire or not, anyone can “use this time to celebrate the archetype of the mother goddess, and honor your own female ancestors and friends.”
Considering all that goes on at the big bonfire, May Day was a big date for weddings.
Back before marriage certificates and things, they called it a “handfasting ceremony.” Beltane was a great day for young couples to jump the broom.
