I almost didn't post this; it seems somewhat jarring to proclaim a merry celebration of the fertility of the earth when such an anti-fertility thing is going on. It's ironic, the platform sank on Earth Day and the oil is coming ashore on May Day. That is, apparently, how we really celebrate the earth with our actions. I'm going to spend the day communing with the earth and praying.
That's why I like these pagan holy days. I'm not so much into the God/Goddess part as into the pantheist part that considers everything holy and sacred - as do Native Americans. A day like today, Beltane, is an opportunity to remind ourselves that everything is sacred. The earth is sacred, the water is sacred, the air is sacred. And when something is sacred it means that it must be treated with the utmost respect and devotion. You don't crap on your altar. So I'm going to spend today praying that every single human being will come to realize that the earth, air and water - that our life on this planet - is sacred. It's going to take a miracle. But then that's what prayer is for.
Welcome to Beltane - the first day of Summer for the ancient Celtic people. They celebrated only two seasons apparently. Summer began with Beltaine on May 1 and winter began with Samhain on Nov. 1. The first day of summer then was a celebration of all that is happening around us now at this time of year: the flowers blooming, the birds singing, all the bursting forth of new life. And it was the time of planting seeds that would, if all went well, grow into the plants that were necessary for survival. . . .
Folkloric traditions tell us that villagers raised Beltaine fires on hilltops throughout the British Isles on May Eve in order to bring the sun's light down to earth. In Scotland, every fire in the household was extinguished, and the great fires were lit from the need-fire which was kindled by 3 times 3 men using wood from the nine sacred trees. When the wood burst into flames, it proclaimed the triumph of the light over the dark half of the year. Then the whole hillside came alive as people thrust brands into the newly roaring flames and whirled them about their heads in imitation of the circling of the sun.
If any man there was planning a long journey or dangerous undertaking, he leaped backwards and forwards three times through the fire for luck. As the fire sunk low, the girls jumped across it to procure good husbands; pregnant women stepped through it to ensure an easy birth, and children were also carried across the smoldering ashes. When the fire died down, the embers were thrown among the sprouting crops to protect them, while each household carried some back to kindle a new fire in their hearth. When the sun rose that dawn, those who had stayed up to watch it might see it whirl three times upon the horizon before leaping up in all its summer glory.
The stories tell us that Beltaine was a time of fertility and unbridled merrymaking, when young and old would spend the night making love in the Greenwood. In the morning, they would return to the village bearing huge budding boughs of hawthorn (the may-tree) and other spring flowers with which to bedeck themselves, their families, and their houses. They would process back home, stopping at each house to leave flowers, and enjoy the best of food and drink that the home had to offer.
In every village, the maypole-usually a birch or ash pole-was raised, and dancing and feasting began. Festivities were led by the May Queen and her consort, the King who was sometimes Jack-in-the-Green, or the Green Man, the old god of the wildwood. They were borne in state through the village in a cart covered with flowers and enthroned in a leafy arbor as the divine couple whose unity symbolized the sacred marriage of earth and sun.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanas_Cormaic Cormac's Glossary] explains Belltaine as “two fires which the Druids used to make, and they used to bring the cattle as a safe-guard against the diseases of each year to those fires.” Also under Bil, “a fire was kindled in his name at the beginning of summer always, and cattle were driven between the two fires.” Various accounts of Beltane observances lingering in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, are to be found in 18th c. writers, and esp. in the old [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_Accounts_of_Scotland Statistical Accts. of Scotland] 1794-99.
The “merry month of May” was one of the most joyous times in the ancient calendar. In old England, the whole month was devoted to outdoor celebrations, “May ridings”, wearing-of-the-green, and periods of sexual license. It was believed that the green-clad fairies (pagan spirits) ruled the month of May, and in some way helped Mother Earth to clothe herself in green yet one more time, so life could go on for her human and animal children. The primary symbol of Beltane was the Maypole, which Christian authorities condemned as a “devilish obscenity.” But the people loved it and would not give it up. Even in Puritan times, when it was denounced from the pulpit as an abominable idol, the Maypole was still annually set up, decorated with flags and flowers and ribbons, danced around, admired, and worshipped. .
. Much of what is reported about the ancient Celtic festivals comes to us from records written by Christian monks who were most definitely not friendly sources. Here is a description of the May Pole written by a medieval Christian author in a work called the “Anatomy of Abuses.”
All the young men and maids, old men and wives, run gadding over night to the woods, groves, hills and mountains, where they spend all the night in pleasant pastimes; and in the morning they return, bringing with them birch and branches of trees, to deck their assemblies withal. And no marvel, for there is a great Lord present amongst them, as superintendent and Lord over their pastimes and sports, namely, Satan, Prince of Hell. But the chiefest jewel they bring from thence is their Maypole, which they bring home with great veneration, as thus. They have twenty or forty yoke of oxen, every ox having a sweet nosegay of flowers placed on the tip of his horns, and these oxen draw home this May-pole (this stinking Idol, rather) which is covered all over with flowers and herbs, bound round about with strings, from the top to the bottom, and sometime painted with variable colours, with two or three hundred men, women and children following it with great devotion. And thus being reared up, with handkerchiefs and flags hovering on the top, they straw the ground round about, bind green boughs about it, set up summer bowers and arbors hard by it. And then fall they to dance about it, like as the heathen people did at the dedication of the Idols, whereof this is a perfect pattern, or rather the thing itself. I have heard it credibly reported by men of great gravity and reputation, that of forty, threescore, or a hundred maids going the wood overnight, there have scarcely the third part of them returned home again undefiled.
So, we don't know much that isn't tainted by unfriendly sources. It's a mystery that leaves lots of room for making things up. And that's OK. There's no such thing as an "authentic" Beltane festival. There are only general outlines that we fill in with our imaginations.
Here are some suggestions for Beltane. (But feel free to make up your own.): Paint yourself red and dance naked around a fire. (Hey, I said these are "suggestions." (And, and if you do this, it would probably be best done privately, unless you possess the right muscle tone.)) Arise at dawn and wash in the morning dew: the woman who washes her face in it will be beautiful; the man who washes his hands will be skilled with knots and nets. If you live near water, make a garland or posy of spring flowers and cast it into stream, lake or river to bless the water spirits. Prepare a May basket by filling it with flowers and goodwill, then give it to one in need of caring, such as a shut-in or elderly friend.
Beltane is one of the three "spirit-nights" of the year when the faeries can be seen. At dusk, twist a rowan sprig into a ring and look through it, and you may see them. Make a wish as you jump a bonfire or candle flame for good luck-but make sure you tie up long skirts first! Make a May bowl wine or punch, in which the flowers of sweet woodruff or other fragrant blossoms are soaked, and drink with the one you love. . .
Scholarly note:
There is a division in our understanding of these ancient people. One one side stand many modern Neo-Pagans who claim Celtic roots for their traditions and speak about reviving an ancient, more authentic Earth-based religion. On the other side, stand professional archeologists, historians and anthropologists. Scholars, like Ronald Hutton who describes Neo-Paganism as "the most eclectic religion in the history of the world" whose success is especially strong "among people who are not already conversant with the sources." He acknowledges the divide between historical evidence and the creative fantasies of Neo-Pagans and expresses his feelings about this in The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles:
But all this does leave somebody with a genuine love of and interest in the people of the ancient world, prepared to accept them upon their own terms and for their own sake, feeling acutely sad and lonely
Another scholar, Stuart Piggot, in The Druids opens the real can of worms:
The aspect of Druid function that has been found most embarrassing to certain apologists is their association with human sacrifice...Diodorus assigns animal and human sacrifice to the seers (manteis); Strabo classes the equivalent vates as interpreters of sacrifices in general, but does not specify the precise practitioners among the heirarchy who actually carried out the animal and human holocausts in wicker figures. Caesar follows Posidonius in the same manner as Strabo by stating that Druids were essential participants in such sacrifices...Tacitus is specific on the British Druids: "They deemed it indeed a duty to cover their altars with the blood of captives and to consult their deities through human entrails." To such passages we must add the recurrent references to human sacrifice among Gauls and Celts from the third century BC to Cicero, Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Pomponius Mela (taken up and repeated by the early Church fathers such as Tertullian, Augustine and Lactantius as examples of pagan iniquities).
This presents a picture that is quite a bit at odds with many romanticized neo-pagan fantasies. The nostalgia for a simpler ancient Golden Age to replace the modern nightmares of societal angst, environmental degradation and materialistic greed run rampant is powerful in its temptation to replace these nightmares with idyllic tribes of sensitive, raven-haired earth-mothers and gallant knight/poets living in an enlightened pre-Christian paradise. Unfortunately, the real picture is much cloudier, more complex and brutal than neo-Pagan fantasies would have it.
Tribal existence in pre-Christian times in Northern Europe may very well have had its own nightmares to deal with. This is not to say that there weren't sensitive earth-mothers and knight poets - there may well have been. We simply don't know for sure. But the preponderance of reality-based, scholarly research tells us neo-pagan notions of a Golden Age are well off the mark. Because of this, many neo-pagan apologists have real problems with this scholarly historical evidence and some even attempt to discredit it. Peter Berresford Ellis, one of those embarrassed apologists, in the course of a lengthy discussion (in a work he also entitleThe Druids and in which he attacks Dr. Piggot ) does his best to discount this material. But he is still forced to admit,
There are a couple of other references which might well imply the existence of human sacrifice but as a very ancient custom long since abandoned at the end of the first millennium BC...
and furthermore, he says, everybody did it:
This custom has been found in Hindu culture, among the Greeks, Slavs and Scandinavians.
And then he tries to dismiss these contemporary accounts (contemporary witnesses being the gold standard of historical research), especially that of Caesar by dressing up his contrary opinion:
The deduction one is really drawn to is that the idea of widespread human sacrifice among the Celts was mere Roman propaganda to support their imperial power in their invasion of Celtic lands and destruction of the Druids.
Myself, I'm with the contemporary witnesses and am willing to accept "widespread human sacrifice" among the ancient Celts. I prefer archeological evidence and testimony of contemporary witnesses over a "deduction one is really drawn to." It is much more realistic to accept this evidence and realize these tribal peoples were engaged in a more brutal lifestyle than is popularly presented in neo-pagan literature. I sympathize with Professor Hutton about "feeling acutely sad and lonely" when I observe the solemn declarations about the "authentic ancient roots" of modern neo-pagan celebrations. However, Mr. Ellis is right to bring other cultures into this. He's right that every religion has similar issues to deal with:
And God said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of... And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. (Genesis 22: 2 - 10)
I'm with Professor Hutton when he concludes that
modern paganism might well be a recent creation which draws upon ancient images but employs them in a new way and for modern needs. One might add here that this view does fit very well into one genuine Graeco-Roman tradition, that anybody could make up their own religion provided it did not harm others.
So Hallelujah and Blessed Be! We really do have a "modern need" for a spirituality that connects us back to the Earth, to Gaia. And one that does no harm. I see no need to bring back ancient traditions that we know very little about and that the little we do know about is not all sweetness and light. And, anyway, there are some beautiful "made up" traditions that have fine historical roots going back to Medieval villages in the countryside. So let us, by all means, enjoy these simple, pagan ("country-dweller') traditions and love our Mother Earth in ways that do no harm. Let us contribute to this
recent creation which draws upon ancient images but employs them in a new way and for modern needs
I couldn't say it any better than that.