Common Magick by A.C. Fisher Aldag

Author:A.C. Fisher Aldag
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: CVR10312019;folk magic;folk magick;british folk magic;british folk magick;british paganism;british witchcraft;british magic;ac fisher aldag;ac fisher-aldag;a.c. fisher aldag;a. c. fisher aldag;a.c. fisher-aldag;witch;witchcraft;paganism
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Published: 2020-10-23T16:28:46+00:00

Beltane, or May Day

The merry first day of May was and is celebrated across the British and Irish Isles. Emigrants from these areas brought May Day traditions to the US.

Beltane, also spelled Bealtaine or Beltain, is pronounced Bell-tayn, Be-all-tay-in-eh, or Bell-tawn-yah. This holiday marks the beginning of summer for many Celtic-based folkloric Pagans and is the most important fertility holiday. The day is sometimes called Lady Day in English and was called Floralia by the Romans, whose springtime goddess Maia lent her name to the month. It is called Nos Galan Mai or Calan Mai in Cymraeg, meaning the calend of May. Irish people celebrate the holiday on May 6 or 7 and call it Beltaine, Beltene, Beltine, Cetsamhain, which means the beginning of summer, or Sam.

Bel is an older Irish and Welsh word for fire or brightness, as well as the name of a solar deity, while tain is a word for fire in Welsh, or raid in Irish. An Irish and Welsh sun god is called Bel or Beli. Beltane was one of four Celtic fire festivals.79 In past days, Bel-fires were kindled on hilltops on the night before May Day and were often the focus of all-night festivities. Some of these fires burned for up to three days. In some localities, hearth fires were extinguished only to be rekindled by an ember from the community fire.80 According to the Irish king and bishop called Cormac, cattle were driven between two fires on Beltane Eve to protect them from diseases.81 Fires are kindled by friction, and revelers leap through the flames for good luck, health, and fertility.82 May Eve is believed to be a time when “witches” are abroad, hence people hold all-night vigils around a bonfire. Divination and rites to honor spirits are performed at the fires, similar to Hallowe’en. The Beltane holiday is often celebrated with weddings, with couples jumping the fire together to ensure their fecundity.

The greening and blooming of the woodlands means that summer is on the way. Cutting greenery in the woods and decorating a home with boughs during the early morning of May Day is a generally older tradition, also practiced at Yuletide.83 Numerous accounts exist, from the high Middle Ages up to the mid-1800s, of townsfolk going into the forest and gathering wildflowers, green branches, and flowering boughs.84 These are paraded through town and used to adorn every doorway, mantle, porch. and shop counter. This rite is called “bringing in the May” or “garlanding.” Young men sometimes take the opportunity to secretly decorate their beloved’s home. The flowery branches and green leaves represent summer and fertility. Yellow flowers, such as primrose and cowslip, symbolize the sun. The woodland journey is accompanied by courtship rituals, from a secretive kiss to an engagement to “wearing the gown of green,” or outdoor lovemaking. Churchmen were forbidden to participate.85

One British ceremony includes “bauming the thorn,” adorning a hawthorn tree or bough with ribbons, flowers, and trinkets. This may have been an older custom which was

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