Great fire festival - origins

Beltane is one of my favourite Sabbats. It is one of the four great fire festivals, the others being Imbolc, Lughnasadh and Samhain and is celebrated by Neopagans in the northern hemisphere between 30th April and 2 May. It signifies the beginning of summer and all the good things in life, food, sex, play, dancing and general merriment. 

Beltane is the anglicised form of the ancient Irish Beltaine and the Scottish Gaelic Latha Bealltainn.  Traditionally, Beltane was thought to mean bright fire deriving from proto Celtic * Belo-te-(p)nia.  I find this especially interesting as one of the oldest gods connected to the festival is Belenus, the ancient Celtic god of light and healing who’s name initially was supposed to translate to bright one.  Some scholars now contest this theory and give a wide number of suggestions on the meaning from powerful or master to source or spring and even henbane.  In ancient Ireland, fires were lit in honour of Belenus at Beltane and his Cult was thought to have worshipped from the Italian Peninsula to Ireland and British Isles.  

Beltane (Bealtaine) from ancient Irish, is deeply rooted in Irish mythology.  Author Steve Blamires writes in Magic of the Celtic Otherworld, Irish History, Lore & Rituals that of five invasion stories of Ireland, three of them occur at Bealtaine - that is Partholon, the Tuatha de Danann, and the Sons of Mil.  Another invasion by the Neimheadh, is thought to have also occurred during this time as the story tells of the Fire of Mide.

Bel Fire

Fire is an integral part of this festival and its symbolic origin goes way back.  In ancient times, before the great Bel fire was lit, all the fires in the land were extinguished on May eve, 30 April. The ancient Druids were responsible for kindling the great Beltane fires, which were taken from nine different types of wood, collected by the nine Druids and turned by those said nine Druids with a birch or oak spindle. From this sacred ritual, a new fire was started. 

The Bel Fire was thought to have protective and healing properties.  People would dance around the fire and every village would light a torch or take an ember from the fire and relight their own hearth fires. Once the fire had died down, people would leap over the flames or smoking embers, for good health and fertility.  Cattle were led in between two twin fires to cleanse their winter coats, any mites or fleas would fall off from the heat.  Ashes from the fire would be rubbed on the skin or thrown over crops.

Even though I can’t say this directly connects to how the fires were created during Beltane, it's also worth noting that to the Druids the very layout of druid fires used for ritual, that is the placement of the logs was even important.  The openings around the fire were devised to mark the cardinal points. 

Faeries, Calileac Bhéara and the May Queen and Jack o’Green

Like at Samhain, it was believed that the veil between worlds was thin during this time and you should be particularly mindful of fairies.  This was a time when magic was most potent, connecting with the other world more likely, even feelings and emotions felt at this time held their power and could stay with the individual until the next festival. Beltane and Samhain stand 6 months apart from each other, astrologically in the signs of Taurus and Scorpio in the western zodiac.  Both are fixed signs with Taurus ruling abundance, love and beauty and Scorpio ruling death, sex and transformation.  At Beltane we celebrate the coming of the light, at Samhain we celebrate the coming of the darkness.

Legend has it that on May eve, Calilleac Bhéara, the old hag of winter, with one eye, white hair, blue skin and teeth the colour of rust, would turn to stone and be restored on Samhain to rule over the winter months once more.  

The May Queen appears to have her origin in ancient Greece.  In ancient Greek mythology, the goddess of fields and flowers was Maia, one of the seven sisters of the Pleiades.  In English, the month of May is taken from Maia. For Beltane, a young woman would be selected to represent the May Queen who would marry Jack o’ Green, another aspect of the Green Man.  Their union signified fertile lands and abundant crops for the summer months to come.  On May eve, couples would make love in the fields and forests, symbolically bringing fertility to the land and themselves.

May Bushes to Maypoles

In the British Isles and Ireland, it was also customary to decorate doorways and windows with garlands or bouquets made from yellow and white flowers such as hawthorn, gorse, marsh marigold and primrose.  Trees such as Hawthorn, Rowan and Holly were also embellished with ribbons and other objects such as hand painted shells and eggshells.  People would dance around the tree or take a branch of the tree home with the hope that the tree spirit would bring luck into their home. Now I was raised to believe that you should never take a branch or bring the flowers from a hawthorn tree indoors as you didn’t want to upset the faeries and bring bad luck or even death to your door.  While researching the material for this blog, I discovered that scholars suggest that the custom of decorating trees could have come from England to Ireland for that very reason as the Irish were more prone to believe the faeries would bestow bad luck on the person that disturbed a thorn tree. 

This form of tree worship and the origin of Maypole does appear to be connected. The Maypole is often seen as a symbolic representation of the ancient cosmic tree, the union between sky and earth, fire and water, winter and summer.  The pole, an obvious phallic symbol, is often decorated with a circle at the top representing sexual unity with long colourful ribbons of red, blue, yellow, green and white that cascade down the pole. People would each hold a ribbon and follow an intricate dance to interweave the ribbons together along the pole, dancing forwards and backwards, under and over symbolically creating and stirring the life force of the earth. 

As I mentioned earlier, the number nine was very significant in the ritual of lighting the fire at Beltane and the number is very magical in many other cultures as well. The Druids believe that we have nine sacred trees - Birch, Rowan, Ash, Alder, Willow, Hawthorn, Oak, Holly and Hazel with each tree having its own lore. In Norse mythology, the sacred ash tree Yggdrasil has roots that connect to the nine worlds.  Myths told about these magical trees often hold knowledge regarding the structure of our universe. Symbolically, the tree connects the sky with the earth, heaven to the underworld. Trees have deep root systems that sometimes go as far down underground as their branches above ground.

Riots

In the sixteenth century under the rule of Henry VIII, May Day festivities were banned, which led to rioting and fourteen people being sentenced to death by hanging.   A further 400 were pardoned by the King.  Following the English Civil War, the miserable Oliver Cromwell banned maypoles and maypole dancing in 1644 with An Act of Parliament. Maypoles were reinstated under The Merry Monarch, Charles II who had a giant 40 metre high one erected on the Strand, London. 

Rituals 

All rituals and magic for fertility, creative ventures, abundance of all kinds, improvement of health and love are especially potent during Beltane.  When using flowers, flowers that evoke the idea of the sun are recommended such as primrose, honeysuckle, gorse, daisies, marigolds etc.  But I also strongly recommend using the native flowers in your area.  Oak, Ash and Thorn are sacred to this festival, leaves could be gathered from Oak trees perhaps to incorporate into spell but remember the caution over Hawthorn.  Respect the trees whatever you do. 

All in all, be good to each other and have a bloody good time.  Don’t be an arse.  Let go of any troubles for Beltane and bring in the summer with the sun in your heart.

Sources: 

Blamires, S. Magic of the Celtic Otherworld, Irish History, Lore & Rituals

Rowan, A. The Lore of the Bard, A Guide to the Celtic & Druid Mysteries

Eason, C. A Practical Guide to Witchcraft and Magick Spells

https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/May-Day-Celebrations/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belenus

https://www.commonweeder.com/a-sacred-trio-the-oak-ash-and-thorn/

https://mythicalireland.com/blogs/myths-legends/the-sons-of-mil

https://druidry.org/druid-way/teaching-and-practice/druid-tree-lore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beltane

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cailleach