Michael and Jaspenelle

Blessed Beltane!

In ancient times, Beltane was a festival celebrated on May 1st by the Celts. It marked the beginning of the pastoral summer season, when livestock were driven out into their summer grazing lands.

Beltane is known as a cross-quarter day as it marks the solar midpoint between the vernal equinox and summer solstice. It is possible that it was celebrated on the full moon nearest to this midpoint as the Celtic year was based on both the lunar and solar cycles.

One of the most significant activities preformed at this time by the ancient Celts was the building of bonfires on the eve of Beltane on top of sacred hills. Those who built these fires would drive the village cattle between them as to purify the herd and bring luck to the community. People would also pass between the fires to purify themselves. Household hearth flames were doused and then lit again from the bonfires.

May Boughs (usually made of hawthorn, which blooms in the British Isles at this time of year) were made at Beltane and hung on the doors and windows of houses. The morning of Beltane often saw pilgrimages to sacred wells where rituals to their spirits were preformed and healing water was drawn.

Maypoles were also erected at this time. These were slender trees that were cut down on the eve of Beltane, their branches were removed and the resulting pole was decorated and erected in the village square, some villages also had permanent Maypoles. Maypole ribbon dances (two circles of people holding ribbons interweaving around the pole) were a common sight on Beltane.

Today, Beltane is still observed by many Neopagans. These celebrations can vary considerably despite the shared name due to the many forms of Neopaganism.

Celtic Reconstructionists celebrate Lá Bealtaine when the local hawthorn trees come into bloom, or on the full moon that falls closest to the cross-quarter day. The traditional bonfire rites are observed as well as pilgrimages to sacred wells.

Wiccans celebrate Beltane as one of their eight sabbats. Their holiday more closely resembles a Germanic festival (celebrated at the same time of year) as it is more strongly linked with fertility then the Celtic one. Many people also consider the maypole to have originated among Germanic tribes. (However, both the Celtic and Germanic cultures became very much mingled over time due to longterm Roman dominance over the area.)

In my personal practice, my main focus is honoring the Earth and the changing seasons. Spokane’s climate is certainly transitioning into summer at this time of year, so the celebration of Beltane seems fitting. As it is an important day to many local Pagans, it touches me on a community level as it is a time we can all come together and celebrate the Earth. On Saturday I will be going out to a bonfire celebration in Medical Lake. (I can’t wait!)

As far as collective modern symbolically goes, this festival celebrates the sacred unity between between lovers and pleasures. As I write this, I am 8 months pregnant with my first child, perhaps this makes this larger connectivity more apparent to me then then ever. I was a maiden at past Beltanes, ready to dance the Maypole, but now I am at the cusp of being a mother, preparing to guide a new generation through the same stages I have passed though. I have noticed that this transition phase is certainly its own trial by fire and I find myself renewed by it.

I took this photo at Fishtrap Lake a couple years ago around Beltane, Arrowleaf Balsamroot is one of my favorite local wildflowers. As I said earlier, honoring the Earth is among the highest of my personal values so I thought I would include a list of all the native wildflowers that are blooming around Spokane at this time of year. I have spotted some so far and I hope to be able to see them before Summer Solstice.

• Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhize sagittata)
• Calypso orchid (Calypso bulbosa)
• Dogtooth Violet (Erythronium grandiflorum)
• Fairybells (Disporum trachycarpum)
• Grass-Widow (Sisyrinchium inflatum)
• Heartleaf Arnica (Arnica cordifolia)
• Nuttall’s Larkspur (Delphinium nuttallianum)
• Sagebrush Buttercup (Ranunculus glaberrimus)
• Shooting Star (Dodecatheon pulchellum)
• Trillium (Trillium ovatum)
• Western Springbeauty (Claytonia lanceolata)
• Wild Hyacinth (Brodiaea douglasii)
• Yellow Skunk Cabbage (Lysichitum americanum)
• Yellowbell (Fritillaria pudica)

I hope you all have time to spend with Nature today and have a beautiful and blessed Beltane.

About Lughnasadh

(I got the day off so time for blogging about Lughnasadh.)

Hoof and horn, hoof and horn
All that dies shall be reborn.
Corn and grain, Corn and grain
All that falls shall rise again…

What is Lughnasadh all about? As I work my way through tracing the past of all the
Neopagan sabbats as they arise, I find myself confronted by one that seems to upset some people, at least when it is called Lammas. So let us start there.

Lammas is actually the Finnish word for “sheep” but I don’t think this is what irks some Pagans. Lammas is “loaf-mass day” and a Catholic festival day, which falls on the 1st of August. On Lammas it is customary for church goers to bring a loaf of bread made from the new wheat crop. On August 1st or 6th, also within Lughnasadh, new fruits were blessed by the Eastern and Western Chlurches, no doubt derived from the ancient festivities. So let call it by the non-Christian term Lughnasadh (loon-ah-saw) for the remainder of this essay.

Lughnasadh is an ancient festival and while its name comes from Gaelic, it was celebrated widely. In Ireland, Lughnasadh might have been celebrated on the full moon nearest to the midpoint between the summer solstice and autumnal equinox (it would be August 9th this year - 2006.) It was one of the four principle festivals on the Irish calendar (which are Imbolc, Bealtaine, Lughnasadh and Samhain.) Lughnasadh marked the start of Autumn even though in some places it may not feel much like it – it is the time when the first harvests are reaped. In a nutshell it is a time to celebrate the abundance of Mother Earth and also a time to pay homage to the passing of the sun as he goes into the harvest to ensure its abundance.

Of course I am not much for nutshells, lets go into depth. I must say of all the sabbats I have researched, Lughnasadh has been the hardest to find information on and it is hard to untangle modern Pagan beliefs from ancient ones.

Lughnasadh is named in honor of Lugh of the Long Hand, whose solar fire ripens the harvest. He is the Celtic god of art and science. In Celtic lore, Lugh declared that a commemorative feast be held each year at the beginning of the harvest season in honor of his foster mother - Tailtiu, Lady of the Fir Bolg. She died clearing an area of forest for her people to cultivate. Legend says that she was buried beneath a great mound named for her, the Hill of Tailte, and that is where the first feast of Lughnasadh was held in Ireland. Overtime Lughnasadh came not only to be a harvest festival but one that honored the sacrifices people make to protect and sustain their families and communities.

Because Lughnasadh is sometimes celebrated on the full moon it has also been a celebration of the Lady of the Moon. In Rome, the full moon nearest to August 13th was the Ides, a day dedicated to Diana and her priestesses. They would dance in sacred groves by torchlight. August is also the month of the Grain Moon.

Lughnasadh is said to have been brought to the USA by European settlers brought their traditions with them - like that of the county fairs. County fairs were (and still are) a time for farmers to show off their summer labors and are traditionally held in August and September. The county fairs could of course be tied to Mabon as well. County fairs echo of the ancestors who held games and competitions (as we do at fairs) during Lughnasadh. It is also time and still is one that reminds us of the importance of community. Of course I may be reading into history to much here but the great thing about tradition is how it lasts through any political, religious or otherwise tumultuous times.

In Brittany, Lughnasadh is the time of the benediction to the seas. It is a time when Ahes, the Mermaid Goddess of the drowned city of Ys, gives her people bounty from the ocean.

In neopaganism, Lughnasadh is the time of the Sacrificial King. The year god has passed on to allow the people to survive the winter. He has gone into the harvest so that he and the goddess can make it abundant. The Oak King is pasing into his dark phase but will return come Yule. The Holly king, who triumphed at Litha, reigns.

To me Lughnasadh means a lot of things but most of all it is about community. Lughnasadh teaches us to remember the importance of some living in the now, as our ancestors did. It is the part of the year when our fore bearers did some of the most backbreaking labor and still took time for festivals and celebration. It reminds me of the importance of sharing our gifts with others and also to share burdens so they lay not heavily upon one persons shoulders. Community is vital to me.

The name of Lugh is derived from the old Celtic word “lugio”, meaning “an oath”. It is a time for me to remember the promises I have made to myself and evaluate where I am – and try not to get angry with myself if I have not been successful yet. (In the past, to give another nugget of history county fairs were held for the purpose of matchmaking, which could lead to marriage. In a sense that is another kind of oath.)

As for what we will do with our community of friends on the 12th (which is when we will be celebrating this sabbat) well, that will be a subject for another essay!