Beltane

The May Day celebration began as the pagan festival of Beltane.

Beltane (also spelt Beltaine) was one of the two major pagan festivals, the other being Samhain which took place six months later and is associated with Halloween. These two festials represented the changing seasons and their effect on nature and humankind. Samhain represented the start of winter, Beltane saw the return of spring. In many places it coincided with the moving of cattle back into the fields from their winter housings.

Being a spring festival, Beltane was a time of joy that represented life and fertility. The cold, dark months were over and the sun was returning, green shoots were sprouting. The association with fertility is common with many spring festivals and connected with our Easter traditions.

Timing

The timing of Beltane immediately suggests links with the spring Equinox. Although many of the traditions and associations are similar, Beltane is not believed to be directly linked to the astronomical year but rather to the perceived seasons of nature. For instance, it has been suggested that the blooming of the first hawthorn was used to indicate the arrival of spring and hence the date of the beltane celebration.

Fire

The most common symbolic - and practical - association with Beltane is fire

The name Beltane originates from the old Irish for "bright fire" and the festival is sometimes called "The Return of the Sun". It was traditional to light fires on Beltane and in some places this tradition continues today. Here in Edinburgh we have an annual Beltane Fire Festival and procession.

In some villages the extinguishing of the old fires and lighting of new was itself an important ritual, with the new sacred fire being carried around the village in the manner of today's Olympic flame.