Beltane 2024
Beltane tidings, friends!
Beltane bonfires and May Day festivals are held on this day (in the Northern Hemisphere) to mark the halfway point between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice.
Among the many Beltane traditions, perhaps the most common is the May Pole. Celebrants attach red and white ribbons to the top of a pole or a straight growing tree. Dancers circle the tree, weaving the ribbons around and to the ground as a symbol of fertility.
I've previously mentioned that I have my grandma’s recipe for goat’s milk cream pie, which she made every year for May 1, along with hand-rolled beeswax candles. I thought those were her "spring traditions," until some time after she passed away I learned that bees and goats were among the many fertility symbols of Beltane.
Beltane is a beautiful time to cleanse your space by burning sage or bay leaves, or to create your own late spring potpourri of lavender, chamomile, or rose petals. Just be sure to leave the petals where curious pets won't try to eat them.
Many people simply celebrate with their first campfire of the warmer season, inviting friends and family for a starlit gathering to roast marshmallows and to reconnect with each other.
A lovely, empowering ritual is to use the campfire to release old paperwork that no longer needs to be kept such as paid debts, old medical bills, or to simply write a few thoughts/patterns/habits that you'd like to release and then burn them all to disconnect from the past and embrace a brighter future.
Do what lights you up,
Sadie
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Author of The Recollection of Trees book series. Fifth generation intuitive. Kitchen witch. she/her.