Beltane is a very ancient festival, likely lost somewhere in the mist of times among North-West European peoples and cultures and to this day celebrated in the Gaelic lands as a Spring festival and much revived by Wiccan believers. Beltaine translates as Bright-Fire or as the Good Fire. Large brights fires are lit on this night to honour the sun and cast away the night’s darkness, calling for the sun to warm, protect and shield the community and its crops. The brighter and taller the fire the greater the community honour the sun, a single and bright bonfire to shine through the night, while the community jumped across the fire to purify and couples jumped hand i hand to bless their union, animals were carried across the dense smoke for fertility and diseases protection, and then the ashes of the great bonfire were divided among the worshippers as a talisman for the rest of the year.
This is a spring festival, halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, mostly across the Celtic heritage people of the British isles, now spread worldwide , celebrated on the 1st of May, as the official start of summer, with rituals like we mentioned above to protect fields, cattle and humans as the pastoral season begins. The keyword to this day’s celebration is optimism, and an optimistic look towards the future.
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