Yesterday was a beautiful day for a celebration of Beltane, or May Day, a festival honouring the Goddess Bride, or Brigit. She was the Celtic Goddess of poetry, fire, lightning, midwifery and metalsmithing.
Beltane is one of the cross-quarter days in the Celtic calendar, which occur at mid-point between the solstices and equinoxes. Beltane celebrates the fertility of nature, the sprouting forth of the green shoots responding to the sunlight. In the past, people danced around the may tree.
Here, we braided ribbons, made daisy chains, and focused on what we wanted to weave into our lives. Round foods with holes in them: apple slices, bagels, cookies, were theaded throught the ribbons and decorated with the daisy chains, then hung in our beautiful beech tree, which for years has volunteered to be our may tree. People jumped over candles to leave behind what they did nit need.
Lucy the Shaman dog was intrigued by the apple slices this morning.
Beltane is celebrated today in Europe, under varying names. Our allyu mate Annerose sent along some photos of a giant bonfire yesterday in Ehrfurt, Germany, to show how Walpurgisnacht is celebrated there.