Hi witches.
It's been a while since I wrote on the blog, I didn't have so much time to do so, I've been concentrate on work that everything else didn't find place.
Beltane is almost here and I wanted to write something about this festival ( I definitely love it ), share with you some history about it and some ideas on how to celebrate it, hope you can find it helpful. Let me know what you think or if you have something else to add.
May 1st - Beltane or Beltane is a festival celebrated on May 1st and the name comes from Irish Gaelic which means '' bright fire '' and it is one of the major sabbats.
Beltane is located halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, and astronomically speaking, the correct day is May 5th.
Celebrated by the druids who made bonfires burn on the top of the hills and who led them through the livestock of the village to purify it and as a sign of good omen.
At this time of year we feel physically good, our biorhythms have adapted to the increasing hours of light and we left behind the critical and bad moments of the end of winter and the beginning of spring.
Beltane celebrates love, attraction, courtship, beginnings and union.
In the past, in the villages, a beautiful young couple was elected to represent the king and queen of May. During Beltane celebration, the population used to dance around a pole planted firmly in the middle of the clearing where the party was held, this represents vitality.
The Fire represents precisely the heat of the passion that generates life, or even the ardor of the warriors during the hunt. This is also a passion that arouse great excitement in the body, mind and spirit.
The sacred fire is a symbol of celestial fire, the primordial heat that produced creation, and which reappeared every spring. The oak is the wood associated with this festival and this is the one used to light the fires. These were lit in pairs and the livestock were led between the two fires to propitiate abundant milk, fertility and good health throughout the year, before being taken to summer pastures.
Fire destroys hostile powers, purifies the air and promotes the fertility of all living beings, which is why people and objects were also passed through the two fires. People danced around the bonfires, many women danced in circles on wooden sticks (which later became brooms) in a frenzied dance of fertility. When the flames of the bonfires began to subside, people jumped the fires to propitiate luck. Young people and girls used to jump to find a soul mate, travellers to ensure safe travel, brides to have children and even pregnant women to ensure an easy birth. Finally, the ashes of the fires were scattered on the earth to ensure the fertility of the fields.
After the dances, young couples often went away with the favour of the darkness, continuing the celebrations on their own.
Foods: oatmeal buns, oranges and everything cooked with chilli, spicy food, milk and honey, salads, quiches, barley, porridge, eggs, red meat grilled or spicy foods and red fruits.
Animals: cow and bee
Gods: all gods of love such as Aphrodite, Rhea, Cybele, Lakshmi, Freija, etc. And divine couples.
Symbols: pole, ribbons, heart, kiss, garland, fire.
Colours: red in particular and all pastel colours
Herbs: pine, rosemary, hawthorn, frankincense, hazelnut, almond, roses, lemon, frankincense, copal, calendula, lilac, bluebell, daisies.
Stones: rose quartz, carnelian, sapphire, lapis lazuli, emerald, ruby, copper.
Herbs: oak, hawthorn.
How to set up the altar:
Cover the altar with a red cloth, perhaps with some pastel colours on it ... put on the altar a beautiful oak branch (obviously found on the ground), begin to adorn it with coloured ribbons during the celebration so that you can create a small miniature pole and if you can add to it some hawthorn flowers, that would be great.
Activities:
- Dance around the pole, adorn it with ribbons and flowers and dance around it with your loved ones
- Attach red ribbons (passion color) to hawthorn bushes to propitiate love, luck and healing
- Create a small and safe bonfire and pass over it
- Meditate
- After the celebrations, leave food as a gift for our animal friends
- Make love with your soul mate
- Decorate or create hawthorn wreaths, pass them over the Beltane fire and give them to your soul mate, or single friends so that they can find love
- If you are trying to get pregnant, fill a bowl with hawthorn flowers and oak bark, pass it all over the fire making a beautiful initiation prayer to fertility and sprinkle the bed, then make love on it
- Load athame, wand, cup and cauldron in this feast;
- Resume forgotten projects
- Think positive
- Walk with your soul mate
- Collect flowers
- Walk in the middle of nature and look at the stars
Ritual activities:
Work on your couple, or if you are single, work on searching love. Work on the well-being of the couple, on love, peace, harmony, meditate on new projects to do as a couple, on pregnancy or on the desire to have children.
This is all witches, hope you liked the article, let me know in the comment if you have anything to add or if you have questions.
Happy Beltane