I love the Celtic Calendar, beginning in October at Samhain or Halloween, it aligns to the seasons and offers milestones and occassions within which to pause and take stock of how you’re doing, a check in, an opportunity to celebrate and gather too. As I write this it’s the last day of April, I heard the cuckoo this morning for the first time this year. NOW it’s really summer I thought! Cuckoos have a prominent place in Irish folklore, often associated with weather predictions, farming fortunes, and good or bad luck. I chose the cuck-oooo as a sign of positivity today, a good omen for things to come. Then I went surfing, the water was glassy and calm, the sky azure blue with airplane trails like the tagged edges of torn paper zig-zagging across the sky. The water still has bite to it, my brain screaming and froze numb as I ducked under the waves to paddle beyond the impact zone where the waves fold over into frothy white foam. I popped up whooping and laughing, wide awake now!
Born a May baby, this is my favourite time of the year! Over the last few months, I’ve been on a journey of letting go an old relationship, and the patterns that entangle me, like a fishing net I know is there but I keep getting tripped up and snagged in, over and over again. Extracting myself from the web, has been painful and sad, but necessary, each day that passes feels like cutting myself free from another segment of the net. Tomorrow Bealtaine dawns and with it, a new season, another milestone reached. This is how I see these special Celtic festivals, as opportunities to exhale and glance over my shoulder to see just how far I have come, to set down all I carry and enjoy the moment, a breather, before facing the road ahead once more and onwards into Summer.
Our ancestors celebrated eight festivals across the year. Each one with own significance, rituals and practices. Here are some ideas from the past, that you might like to reignite (pardon the pun!) this week by way of acknowleding your journey into the fifth month of the year and Summertime.
Bealtaine Fire
One of the most enduring legends of Uisneach (sacred site in the centre of Ireland) is that it was the location for the first great fire to be lit in Ireland on 1st May. According to the Dindshenchas (Lore of Places), the fire was lit by a druid named Mide and burned on the Hill for seven years. As the centuries progressed, the great fire became the catalyst for the Bealtaine festival; an annual gathering and fair at Uisneach that continued to early modern times.
Traditionally, the fires in every home and hearth across Ireland would be extinguished in anticipation of a new flame from Uisneach’s Bealtaine Fire. Fires were then ignited on the other sacred hills of Ireland, created a unique ‘fire eye’ over the island; symbolising the country’s emergence from the darkness of Winter into the light of Summer.
The Bealtaine Festival was often the first chance for neighbours to greet each other after the long winter months and great celebrations ensued. Goods were exchanged and gifts offered to the Gods. Feasting, dancing, music, tournaments and trade were all avidly partaken in as the festival proceeded. It was also customary to drive cattle around the fire with the belief that the smoke from the sacred fire would protect them from harm.
I invite you to create your own outdoor Bealtaine fire if you can do so safely. It doesn't need to be a bonfire, a small fire in a pot or BBQ or tin can will do nicely. Light a fire outdoors (safely) and gather with friends, family and loved ones to celebrate life, light and love.
Bealtaine Altar
Create an altar with wild flowers, cards, petals and symbols, objects, talisman of Bealtaine representing whatever theme of the threshold you want to invoke, blossoming and opening, expanding. Part of the ritual is the act of walking out in nature to receive the flowers and blossoms of earth. If you live in a city you can also wander out and appreciate the beautiful flowers and blossoms in peoples gardens, window boxes, in parks etc. It’s all growth and blossoming, no matter how small.
At the centre of the altar place a large candle in a bowl of water surrounded by petals floating on the water, choose petals from the gorse or hawthorn or other blossoms that are budding and flowering on your land. This symbolises the union of feminine (lunar) and masculine (solar) aspects of yourself.
Recite these beautiful blessings (credit: Mari Kennedy):
"May I find centre and stability during times of uncertainty
May I anchor in my sovereign centre
May I expand and blossom into my full potential"
May Bush
Alternatively, create a May Bush using a shrub in your garden or cutting a branch of hawthorn or gorse. Make a garland of coloured egg shells, make clooties/ribbons to hang from it embued with your wishes and prayers. Erect it outside (do not bring it inside!) and decorate it in a ritual.
Flower Garland, Head Pieces and Poesies for Doorsteps
Thread some heads of flowers or strong petals together using a needle and thread to create a simple garland or make a headpiece. Gather your favourite Bealtaine flowers together in a small poesie and tie a beautiful ribbon around it with a prayer/wish written on the ribbon. On May Day morning place these on your doorstep and your neighbours doorstep as a protection/prayer.
Lá Bealtaine shona duit x