Beltane marks the end of the dark half of year and the beginning of the light half of the year.
Beltane was traditionally the time to seek protection from both natural and supernatural threats.
Protection for the home, the family, the crops, the livestock.
The original meaning of the name may be Bel-fire, after the Celtic God Bel or Balor - another name for Cernunnos.
In some traditions, Beltane (along with Lughnasadh) is a good time for handfasting (marriage).
Beltane is considered to be the second greatest of the four Greater Sabbats.
Beltane is traditionally celebrated on April 30th.
The Beltane celebration actually begins on sundown of the preceding day, April 30, because the Celts always figured their days from sundown to sundown. Sundown was the proper time for Druids to kindle the great Bel-fires.
Frequently, cattle would be driven between two such bon-fires then they would be taken to their summer pastures the next day.
Other May Day activities included walking one's property ('beating the bounds'), repairing fences and boundary markers, processions of chimney-sweeps and milk maids, archery tournaments, morris dances, sword dances, feasting, music, drinking, and girls bathing their faces in the dew of May morning to retain their youthful beauty.
But many popular customs associated with Beltane didn't exist in the Celtic pagan celebrations.
About the only thing that can be said about ancient Beltane is that it was a fire festival, and most likely not as adventitious as it is today.
Cattle were routinely run between fires (and in the 9th Century that practice was said to involve Druids) to protect them as they moved from their winter quarters to their summer grazing-land.
When you are dependent on cattle as a source of food, you want to do everything possible to ensure their survival, so instead of Beltaning in the woods it was more important to bless the livestock.
Fire as a source of control and good fortune wasn’t just limited to cattle, human beings jumped over fires for good luck as well.
Up until the 1300’s history doesn't mention the Maypole, and when it eventually does get mentioned, it's not referred to as “phallic” or “ancient pagan.”
The earliest function of the Maypole was to simply dance around it. There were no ribbons tied to the top of it, though it was sometimes decorated with flags.
As time passed the May Pole was given a special dance with the ribbons going around it.
And actually this is all kind of new, dating back to just the last few hundred years.
Anyway, today's Beltane traditions may not necessarily be the purest form of paganism, and just because ancient Pagans probably didn’t dance around the Maypole, it doesn’t make Beltane any less fun.
This festival officially begins at moonrise on May Day Eve, and marks the beginning of the third quarter or second half of the ancient Celtic year.
