Bealtaine - Time of Blossoming
Bealtaine is one of the Irish and Celtic Fire Festivals, which fall on the Cross-Quarter Days, halfway between Equinoxes and Solstices. This places the date of Bealtaine 2021 on the 5th of May. However, in living tradition, many Irish people outside the Pagan community celebrate Bealtaine on May Eve, the 30th of April, following old customs such as the decorating of a maybush (check out folklore.ie, Michael Fortune’s website, for local traditions and the Maybush Revival Project), placing yellow flowers at the doors and windowsills for protection against the “Other Crowd”/Sidhe. Our family practise is to honour the folk traditions and begin our celebration of this festival on May Eve, lighting a fire in our garden fire-pit. However, for me, my personal ceremonial focus will be on the 5th of May. Nonetheless, as the month of May (Bealtaine in the Irish language) begins on the 1st, I greet the sunrise and offer reverence and prayers to earth, sea, and sky, to the ancestors, to the Goddess Eriu, and to Medb (“Maeve”).
This is the time of blossoming, and, for me, Bealtaine really begins with the flowering of the hawthorn. It is the time to set our intentions for the flowering of the seeds we have been germinating, beginning at Samhain, their shoots becoming visible at Imbolc. From this flowering, we look forward to our intentions bearing fruit, and the promise of a harvest at Lughnasadh. This is also the time of the Sacred Union, the Greenwood Marriages, the balancing of masculine and feminine energies, and the fertilisation of the Earth. It is important to remember that each of us carry sacred feminine and sacred masculine within us, and just as the balancing of masculine and feminine energies on the Earth brings forth growth and abundance, so the balancing of these energies within us allows us to grow into the fullness of ourselves.
In Ireland, the key site associated with the festival of Bealtaine is the beautiful Hill of Uisneach in Co. Westmeath, in the heart-centre of Ireland. In ancient times, the first Bealtaine fire was always lit on this sacred hill. Due to COVID-19, the community has been unable to gather for ceremony, pageant, and celebration at this site, but, in 2017, many of us witnessed a historic occasion, as Irish President Michael D. Higgins officially lit the Bealtaine fire at Uisneach, the first official Irish head-of-state in millennia. Do check out uisneach.ie for information, and their Youtube channel for videos.
I look forward to seeing many of you for our Bealtaine Zoom workshop on the 9th of May, 3-6PM GMT, where we will connect with the energy of this time, journey to the Hill of Uisneach, and connect with the Goddess Eriu.
