Exploring Celtic Spirituality

Beltane Ceremony- May Day - May 1, 2011

with Edie Stone and Maria Jekic

Celebrate the joyous juiciness of Spring and the flowering of Celtic Summer

May King & Queen, May Pole, The May Bush
Gwalchmai, the Hawk of May

1 pm, set-up and preparations; 2 pm, Ceremony - Please arrive by 1:45 pm
Potluck dinner follows the ceremony

By donation, $10 to $25 appreciated, no one turned away for lack of funds

RSVP to Edie: 303-415-3755 or rsvp@shamanicjourneys.net

Beltane Themes and Details

I am delighted to have Maria Jekic join us as our co-facilitator and logistics maven for Beltane!

You are invited to celebrate the joyous juiciness of Spring and the beginning of the Celtic Summer with a Beltane ceremony, followed by a potluck, on Sunday, May 1. Set up and preparations, 1 to 2 pm (set up May Pole, etc.) Please arrive by 1:45. Ceremony starts at 2 pm.

By donation, $10 to $25 is appreciated, no one turned away for lack of funds.

The location will be in North Boulder, and you will receive directions when you RSVP. Because I want and need this to be a co-creation of our growing Celtic Spirituality group, you can participate by bringing certain items, listed below. Be sure to include what you are bringing with your RSVP to 303-415-3755 or rsvp@shamanicjourneys.net

Please bring folding chairs or blankets if you know you need to sit. We will have a few chairs on hand.

During the afternoon, we will weave together several themes from Celtic and British seasonal myths, folklore, and rituals, into a playful, co-created ceremony. Themes include:

1. The transition out of the dark half of the year, giamos, which has been with us from October 31, Samhain/Hallowe'en -- into the light half of the year, samos, which starts on May 1 with the Feast of Bealtinne.

3. This transition is sometimes symbolized by a battle between Green Man and Brown Man, or conflict between the Young God and an Old, Dark, or Giant God. (The energy of Youth is found in Mabon, Lleu, Culhwch, or Gawain/Gwalchmai in Welsh traditions, Cúchulainn, Lugh, and Angus Og in Irish -- while the aging Cernunnos, the Hawthorne Giant, and Cú Roí Mac Dáire are the old or defeated energy.) In parts of Wales, the battle of the King of Summer against the King of Winter for the hand of the May Queen was acted out by teams of boys. In the Middle Ages, Robin Hood or Jack-in-the-Green embodied the young energy, battling against Dark and Evil. In many traditional May Day revels, the triumphant youth is crowned as the King of the May.

2. The coming forth of the Flower Maiden (Blodeuwedd and Olwen in Welsh legend, Bláthnat in Irish). She is the Goddess of the Land in her youthful, lovely aspect. Sometimes the old Hag has to be vanquished, much as the Old God is defeated. Maid Marian, whom some see as a version of the ancient White Lady of the wildwood, accompanies Robin Hood. We find the Flower Maiden embodied in the Queen of the May in many Bealtaine festivities.

3. Symbols of fertility and the Greenwood Marriage. Fertility symbols include the phallic May Pole (a Germanic/Saxon influence), which is crowned, by a yoni-like wreath of flowers. Other fertility symbols include ritualized "marriages" or the King and Queen of the May, and the joining of Chalice and Blade. Hobby horses are often to be found in May Day festivities, and they cavort and dance, teasing the girls, and sometimes "capture" a maiden.

4. Another important figure is the Fool, who often appears in mummers plays or Morris Dance groups as a male cross-dressed in women's clothing. This is an apt symbol of the limnal, neither-here-nor-there energy of transformation, of the thinness of the veils between the worlds, and of the marriage of opposites. By breaking patterns of expected behavior and crossing boundaries, the Fool makes greater change possible.

5. Fires of transformation and purification. The first Bealtaine fire was lit at Uisnech, the center of Druidic power in Ireland. Other fires would be relit from the central fire. Until the 1800's in Scotland and Wales, the fires of Bealtaine or Calan Mai were lit to purify cattle as they were driven from stale winter containment into the fresh freedom of the green pastures in the hills, called sheilings. The young people of the village would spend the summer in the sheilings, which might have led to a bit of mischief.

6. The blessing of water. Dew collected at dawn on Bealtaine was especially potent, as it had absorbed the fire of the sun, and thus became "sun in water." This could be saved and used for healing during the rest of the year for healing. In some places, communities would make a pilgrimage to a sacred well at dawn on May Day, to collect the potent "sun in water," which was sprinkled on them as a blessing. In Cornwall, May 1 was Dipping Day, and boys would splash water on anyone they met who was not wearing hawthorne. In southern Ireland, a procession of mummers included a clown who would anoint the shrieking crowds with water from a home-made mop. (Thanks to Mara Freeman for most of the water traditions, and Alexei Kondratiev for the sun-in-water image.)

7. Bringing in the May, and May Bushes. It was customary in all the Celtic lands to rise early on May Day, go out in the countryside, and bring back in flowers and flowering branches, especially hawthorne branches. May Bushes are a more authentically Celtic version of the May Pole. Flowering branches were gathered together and decorated to make the bush, or a living tree was decorated with flowers, ribbons, bright scraps of material, colored eggshells, bits of shiny metal, or a golden ball to symbolize the sun. Boys and girls with branches and flowers would dance around the May Bush, in a serpentine or spiral pattern.

How do you spell Beltane, any way?

Any of these ways:

Belltaine, Bealtaine, Beltain, Beltane, Beltine, Bealteine, Bealltuinn (Scottish Gaelic), Boaldyn (Manx)
Or try Welsh: Calan Mai, or Cornish: Cala' Mē, or Breton: Kala-Hañv

Please bring ...

When you RSVP, please indicate what you can bring to share. Most of these are items you have on hand, it won't need to cost a lot, but a few things need to be purchased. I hope we are developing a sense of community.

Flowers - You can go a-Maying in the morning, and find what is blooming, or visit a grocery/flower shop. White and yellow flowers are especially symbolic, but bring what you find.

Branches. It would be lovely to have some flowering branches for the May Bush and a short procession. White hawthorne branches are traditional in the British Isles, but we are in Colorado, so we will see what is blooming.

Vases or small buckets for the flowers and branches. Some small stones or a bag of smooth river rocks, to put at the bottom of the vases.

Dew water. If you want to be traditional, arise at dawn and collect the dew that has been kissed by the dawn. We will add some dew water to a bowl of flower water, and use it as a blessing.

Daisy chains, dandelion chains, a garland. We will need one of these to crown the May Queen. My yard was the victim of a misguided weed exterminator 2 years ago, so we no longer even many dandelions to share. :-(

Hobby horse. I have a horse, it could use a few new ribbons.

Ribbons, strips of colorful cloth, or clooties. To decorate the May Bush, to hold prayers and blessings on the Apple Tree, for the horse, for your hair ...

Other decorations for the May Bush or Apple Tree: colored egg shells, origami, paper ornaments ...

For our 2 fires: I am planning to use a dutch oven, with sand in the bottom, and candles stuck in it as a safe and containable fire. We have a copper kettle coming for the other fire. I need a bag of clean sand for the fire pots. We may also have tiki torches to line our route to the summer pastures.

Candles. Anyone can bring candles for the fire pots. They can be various heights and thicknesses, tapers, pillars, etc.

Mead or flower wine, juice.
Oat cakes, cookies, scones.
Paper cups, plates.
For our sharing of Cakes and Ale. We have some scones coming.

Music, musicians, instruments, songs to share, CDs. I will prepare a CD of seasonal music, but if you have favorites, please bring them.

Poetry, love poems, humor.

Inspiration, creativity.

PLEASE RSVP TO 303-415-3755 OR rsvp@shamanicjourneys.net to reserve your place and get directions.

All photo credits on this page

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