May Day's Beltane: A Springtime Halloween

by Marisa

Blooming flowers and spring-time showers; this season really could not feel less like Halloween. And yet, according to Pagan tradition, Beltane (that's May Day to most of us) and Halloween have more similarities than you may realize.

Like Samhain (Halloween), Beltane marks a time when magic abounds and the veil between the spirit and earthly worlds is at its thinnest. But while Samhain honors death and protects against wandering spirits, Beltane celebrates life and protects against, well, faeries. Seriously. And after their long winter respite, said faeries apparently grow quite mischievous.

Fortunately, just as Jack-o-lanterns and costumes shield the living from Samhain's walking dead, Beltane is similarly filled with protection rituals. While young lovers offered May flowers to profess their affection, placing rowan branches or primrose flowers along windows and doors on the first of May was also said to protect the home from encroaching faeries. Similarly, children would wear protective daisy chains around their necks and coal might be tossed in with the butter, which is a favorite faery abode. In keeping with the Samhain dumb supper tradition, leftover food from Beltane Eve was also buried or placed outside to soothe the thwarted faeries.

In spite of these protections, there was always chance of being caught outdoors on Beltane Eve, when the Queen of Faeries would ride out on her white horse, enticing people into a Faeryland from which they couldn't return. (Anyone sitting beneath a tree was said to be particularly vulnerable.) Fortunately, if you hid your face, the Faery Queen would pass you by, but just in case, attaching bells to your heels or ringing a wind chime was said to further protect.

The word Beltane derives from the Old Irish Beltene, meaning "bright fire," and just as ancient Celts would drive cattle between Samhain bonfires in purification, so would cattle be driven between Beltane blazes to protect and purify the coming harvest. To this day, many Pagans leap the Beltane fire (feel free to substitute a candle) to wish upon the coming season. Traditionally the first cook-fires of summer were lit from the Beltane fire, and individuals would bring smoldering pieces into their home as blessing.

Careful of those faeries, however! As conventional wisdom believed faeries couldn't start their own fires, custom discouraged gifting Beltane fires among neighbors, lest he or she be a faery in disguise. Our advice? Stick to the candle variation. And best of luck with those Beltane wishes!

| 05/01/08 | Lessons