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Beltane, also known as May Day, is one of the cross-quarter fire festivals. This celebration is the last of the Spring fertility festivals before the Summer Solstice. While the traditional date in the Southern Hemisphere for Beltane is 31st October, (May 1st in the NH, hence the name May Day!), the exact halfway point changes from year to year.
Some of the traditional customs honouring Beltane we see celebrated today are the Maypole dance (a symbol of fertility), Beltane bonfires and weaving flower garland crowns.
The word Beltane in traditional Irish is spelled Bealtaine. It means “Fire of Bel” or “Bright Fire”. Bel or Belenos is a Celtic fire god who may have been the catalyst for this Sabbat thousands of years ago.
Seen by many as the beginning of Summer. Beltane is a time to rejoice and revel in the radiant warmth of the sun along with the vitality, abundance, and fertility it promises.
The veils are thin at this time, and we are more able to connect with the spirit realm. It is now that we honour the light half of the year and delight in an overflow of passion, fertility, and the Earth’s blessings.
Beltane celebrates life and fertility - just look at the bounty of Mother Earth around you! It is a time for feasting and celebrating the fecundity of the earth and the union between the earth mother and the fertility god.
As a great festival for lovers, this is a time of passion and love. We honour the sacred feminine and the union between the masculine and feminine energies. Many choose to ‘handfast’ or marry at this sacred time.
This is an age-old tradition deeply rooted in symbols of fertility and rebirth. It is thought that the intertwining ribbons symbolize the union of masculine and feminine energies, while the dance itself is a joyful celebration of life’s abundance. Adding other rich meanings to this, the may pole was also seen as “an embodiment of the world tree or the axis mundi, linking the earth to the heavens” (knightstemplar.co), also the may pole itself becomes “a phallic symbol representing the masculine energy associated with fertility… [whilst] the woven ribbons that adorned the may pole were seen as representations of the feminine aspects of creation” (knightstemplar.co).
A beautiful way to honour and celebrate the blossoming of life all around by collecting wildflowers and weaving them together with your intentions and relishing in beauty and love.
As a cross-quarter fire festival, bonfires were at the heart of a Beltane celebration! These fires are symbolic of the return of light and warmth with the onset of summer, and were also thought to bring protection, and purification. Leaping over the Beltane fire is a traditional way to bring good luck and fertility into your life. As you leap, you can visualise what it is you desire to call in to your life. As well as holding hands and leaping across with your lover!
This time of fertility and abundance is a perfect time for commitment ceremonies and weddings.
Come together with your loved ones and community to feast and make merry! You can create nourishing food that uses seasonal ingredients to honour the earth’s fertility and abundance. Why not include a fire here too!
At Sacred Earth Medicine we cherish this time to gather our tribe and offer Cacao Ceremonies in celebration of love! If you’d love to host a Beltane Cacao Ceremony in your community and need to stock up - get some now!
And we’ve got plenty more ideas on how to love up your Beltane with Cacao.
Inspired by the wisdom and generosity of the Magi, this rich and spiced drink is a regal treat for Christmas or anytime you want to activate your royalty!
This is a Ceremonial version of the traditional Peruvian Chocolatada recipe - a creamy & spicy hot chocolate!
Saffron has been revered and used for over 3500 years, and not just for its culinary and medicinal properties, but also for its mythical and magical significance throughout history too.
Celebrated by ancient cultures across the globe, the Summer Solstice, or Litha, heralds the longest day of the year and celebrates the potent energy of the Sun.
