Bealtaine – May 1st.
If not a bowl of thy sweet cream, Then a cup to bring me cheer, For who knows when we shall meet again To go Maying another year. Cornish Folk SongHappy May 1st. Bealtaine is perhaps one of the most long-lived and adaptive festivals. Many claim it was celebrated in song and verse longer than human recorded history. It is a celebration. It marks the time of dark winter months to the light and joy of spring and summer. Death to life. A time of new beginnings. New hope. New goals.
The Celts celebrated May Day with festivals, fertility rites and danced with the first flowers of spring in their hair. Even the Catholic Church adapted the theme. On May 1st, in many churches around the world, the statue of Mary is crowned queen with a wreath of flowers. In fact, in my senior year in high school, I was given the honor of placing the wreath. There was a grand procession, complete with singing, a mass, and large amounts of food. (No fertility rite).
An old theory that surrounds this day is that feelings and emotions experienced on the day of the festival are expected to stay with the celebrant until the next May Day. So with that in mind, take this opportunity to mark a new beginning. Let go of old worries, and dark memories. Buy flowers. Put a figurine of a fairy or angel in your garden. Write down a new goal. Another words – let in the light.
Happy May Day, Pam
