Beltane Specific to areas of Britain least influenced by later invasion by Roman, Anglo-Saxon and other non-celtic settlers is the tradition of bonfires on the 1st of May. Either a single fire leaped or circled sunwise to bring luck or a double fire to drive cattle between. Often rowan branches were associated with this ritual, being carried around the fire or hung about the house or fashioned into crosses. This was seen in Scotland and Ireland at the time known by many names including Beltane and Cetsoman. Despite attempts to relate Beltane to deities such as Baal and Belenos, it seems more likely to mean bright or lucky fire. On the same night as this was done all the hearth fires were extinguished and then rekindled from the bel-fire. It was considered extremely bad luck for someone to take fire from your hearth as it would give them power over you. All this fire symbolism celebrated the beginning of the summer and its purpose was one of protection, usually from the dangers livestock faced from predation out in the summer pastures, but often the specified danger was from faeries or witches. The rituals appear in such latitudes where winter clings on and makes spring often bitterly cold. Further south in Europe the danger of winter and passage to summer may be seen around Imbolc or the spring equinox. The bonfires faded out by the 19th century, but the tradition of it being bad luck to give fire from your home on this night persisted into the 20th century in Scotland. The festivals of May in England were more fertility and fecundity oriented. Garlands of leaves and flowers were made and carried in processions. Different types of tree branch or plant were placed on the doorsteps of women to indicate the local lads opinion of them. As with most British celebrations, a tradition of begging developed around the gathering and distributing of greenery. There was commonly a lot of flirting between the sexes In England, Wales and lowland Scotland a common May day feature, at one time, was the may pole. Nowadays thought of as a beribboned phallic pole to be danced around, its roots are less specific. It may have originating with the tall wooden poles used in the worship of sky gods in parts of Europe, it was probably imported in the middle-ages and was also common in mainland Europe. The pole was a focal point, decorated with fresh growth, ribbons and other pieces of material and sometimes painted. People did dance around it, but the well-known ribbon twining dance did not exist until the 19th century. The tree chosen was the tallest that could be found (or stolen, the tradition began to fall into disrepute in the 16-17th centuries when wealthy landowners protested at their best trees being felled without permission). There was also a spate of villages stealing each others maypoles. As with many other traditions, the reformation period put a dent in the festivities, most notably in Scotland. Strongly associated with both the known ancient celtic festivals, both Beltane and it’s yearly opposite Samhain, are the fairy folk. Ballads such as Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight specify the first morning in May as the date the fairy appears. Part of this is the association of fairy folk with boundaries in both space and time, the change from winter to summer being one such boundary. The fairies were supposed to travel to new abodes on these two dates or in some tales at all four quarter days of Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas and Samhain. The supernatural was particularly active in Wales on Calan Mai (May Day), with demons stealing new borns and a doorway to fairy land opening in the Brecon Beacons. It may be of random interest to note that one of the two saints gifted to May Day by the church was St James, also known as St James the Greater. James was brother to the disciple John and was killed with a sword by Herod Agrippa I in 44AD.
References:
|