Faeries, Fertility, and Frivolity: The Holiday of Beltane

The pagan holiday of Beltane is believed to be a recreation of one of the oldest know Celtic seasonal holidays. It is celebrated around the First or Second day of May and is within many pagan traditions considered one of the four Cross Quarter or main holidays. If you are astrology inclined, the precise date is when the sun is at 15 degrees Taurus in the Northern Hemisphere. Beltane happens during the time of the year when everything is blooming and growing, fields are being planted, and the first fresh foods of the season are starting to come in. Modern pagans have made Beltane a celebration of all things Spring and the Fertility of the Earth.

If you’ve ever heard of Beltane or Mayday, it may conjure images of baskets of flowers on the front doorknobs of homes, people dancing around a ribbon bedecked Maypole, and picnics where everyone is wearing flower crowns. In my area of Pennsylvania, Mayday makes us think of the Mayday Fairy Festival and dressing like a fairy for the weekend. In some areas, the holiday marks the first big bonfires of the season. It is very much an outdoor fire festival full of friends, food, fire, and frivolity.

Beltane is said to have originated in Celtic Culture as a Spring Festival. The earliest mention of the festival was in the journals of a Bishop by the name of Cormac who died in 908 CE. Cormac noted that the locals drive their cattle through two bonfires to honor the fertility gods. There is historical evidence that the festival was celebrated in Ireland, Scotland, parts of England, Wales, and on the Isle of Man by several names and with similar traditions around May first.

Modern Wicca considers Beltane to be a fire festival honoring the marriage and consummation of the Sun God and the Maiden Goddess. In the Wiccan Wheel of the Year, the Sun God is a young man and he takes the hand of the Maiden Goddess in marriage. Many Wiccans arrange their own handfasting’s on this date as it is believed to be a lucky day for marriage. The abundant fertility of the Earth at this time of year is seen as a blessing of fertility from the God and goddess. This is a day to honor love and growth in all aspects of your life.

Many traditions also believe that Beltane is one of the two times of the year that the Veil, or barrier, between the Faery Realms and our realm is thin and allows for passage between the realms. Offerings of milk, cream, butter, and cheese are often left for traveling faery folk and fairy festivals are common in the United States around this time. Always be polite to strangers who are just a little strange and try not to follow them into any mushroom circles.

If you are lucky enough to live in an area with May Day or Beltane festivals, they are well worth the visit in most cases. If you do not live in an area with a festival, do not despair. Other popular activities for the day include picnics, nature walks, gardening, and backyard campfires. The focus of the day is to be in nature and enjoy the bounty and beauty of the season. My personal favorite thing is a picnic in the park with friends where we enjoy each other’s company and the nature around us. If parks are not available, go walking around the garden center at a store, stay in and watch fairy-themed movies while eating strawberry shortcake, go to a tea house for High Tea, or host a little Beltane ritual of your own.

So, what does one wear to a Beltane picnic? My first answer is something comfortable, but if you want to be fancier than that, let me suggest wearing flower crowns, fairy wings, and brightly colored clothes. The modern colors for the day are green, magenta, vivid blue, purple, red, brown, white, yellow, and orange. This is a perfect time to wear your fairy costumes and tie-dye.

For your flower crowns, any seasonal flower is appropriate, but plants like lilac, rose, violets, dogwood, daisy, mint, willow, ivy, snapdragon, mugwort, daffodil, mum, marigold, honeysuckle, hawthorn, meadowsweet, Rowen, oak, and forsythia are traditional. For your jewelry, the traditional crystals of the day can include rose quartz, jade, aventurine, malachite, bloodstone, emerald, pink tourmaline, quartz, carnelian, lepidolite, fluorite, amber, and moonstone. At this picnic, suggested foods include honeycakes (or just cakes with honey in them), strawberries, spring vegetable, asparagus, dandelion salad, salads, and foods that contain any of these: dairy, oatmeal, honey, wine, fresh herbs, vanilla, warm spices, grains, and edible flowers. If you wish to burn incense or just scent the air the suggested incense for the day includes rose, lilac, jasmine, mint, vanilla, lemon, woodruff, and sandalwood. Since this is a Pagan holiday, some of the gods and goddesses you can invite to join you or honor with rituals include: the May King and May Queen, Jack of the Green, Aphrodite, Bel, The Green Man, Artemis, Blodewwdd, Brighid, Diana, the Oak King, Cernunnus, Maeve, Flora, Gaia, Danu, Herne, the Faery, the Satyr, or Pan.

Some of the things I have done in the past to celebrate Beltane is jump small bonfires to bring bounty into my life in the coming year, had small drumming circles in the park, danced spiral dances friends, took long nature walks looking for fairy houses, built a fairy habitat in my flower beds, made s’mores and roasted hotdogs over the fire, made floral crowns with fresh picked flowers, planted flowers, and danced in the rain.

Some of the most powerful and beautiful Beltane rituals I’ve done are also the simplest. Enjoy the day and honor the gods with your joy and appreciation.