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Beltane: the traditional start of the summer season and a wonderful time to reconnect with nature and remember our ancient roots. Once a significant festival for the ancient Celtic cultures of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, today modern-day Wiccans, neo-Pagans and tradition-minded folk continue to mark this ancient celebration. This is a time of fire and the weaving together of history, myth and mystery. In this article, we will learn what Beltane is and how we can celebrate this Pagan festival with nature-based Beltane practices and sacred walking rituals.
As a wild woman learning to live in honour of the natural cycles, my journey observing these ancient days and traditions is becoming much more meaningful. Untangling the meaning, myth and history behind such rites ties me much more closely with my land and with the people who have inhabited these Isles for millennia.
With the land coming to life in full bloom around us, bright flowers peppering the landscape and the natural energy rising in vitality and welcoming possibility, Beltane is a wonderful chance to deepen your connection with Mother Nature through ritual and tradition.
What is Beltane?
Beltane is a Pagan festival in honour of the Celtic sun God Belenus. The word itself translates to ‘bright fire’, or ‘fire of Bel’ and, this year, it has certainly reflected the heat of the summer season to come!
After a long, wet winter and the first awakenings of the land in spring, Beltane is a time to celebrate the warm season to come. This is a true Celtic fire festival, a chance to celebrate fertility, growth and life, and the sacred union of masculine and feminine forces that preside over us all. It’s a chance to honour the great Gods and Goddesses, including Mother Earth and Father Sky.
As a fire-sign Sagittarius, it’s a festival I can well and truly get behind.
This time of year marks the halfway point between the spring equinox and summer solstice and is traditionally celebrated on 1st May – May Day. Bonfires and maypoles, dancing and ritual are the expressions of choice in honour of the great Bel. It is the perfect time to mark the changing of the seasons with a Beltane hiking ritual.
Beltane & the Land: How to Celebrate Beltane in Nature
Whether you are new to the Pagan party, or simply prefer a chance to enact your own private ritual, tying your practices to the changing of the seasons allows you to punctuate your life with meaning. It is a chance to reinvigorate our commitment to our natural and cyclical practices which, as women, provides us with strong roots and a solid foundation from which to grow high and mighty.
Bringing the celebration into the modern-day world by embarking on a ritualised walk connects us with our ancestors and the ancient deities they worshipped. Here are some ideas for how you can ritualise this Celtic tradition:
- Go on a sunrise walk on May Day, or over the bank holiday weekend, to greet the Beltane sun.
- Take a floral offering to a sacred spring, old tree, or ancient site. Give thanks to the gods, goddesses, Mother Earth, and to all those who have come before.
- Reflect on what you are ready to ignite – what passion, purpose and joy do you wish to enter your life?
- Wear feminine clothes that allow freeing, easy movement instead of your usual hiking outfits. Feminine is an all-encompassing term, so interpret that as best suits you.
- Walk or meditate barefoot, feeling the revitalising energy rising from the earth to greet you.
- Take a short video, photo or make a journal entry to mark this moment and remind you of your intentions for this next season of your life.
- Upon returning from your walk, light a candle or a firepit and cast your worries, fears and doubts to the skies, while calling on the strength and energy of the fire to ignite you. Cleanse your mind, body and spirit with the heat of the flames.
You can use these ideas of how to celebrate Beltane in nature to help you refine your own, ritual-based practices, rooting you to the earth and to yourself.
Closing Reflection
These lands are ancient. Much more ancient than we can fathom. Countless generations have walked these pathways, honoured their gods and stood where we now stand. Through turning our focus outwards from ourselves, we can connect to the seasons, return to our roots and to the certainty of the natural seasons.
However you choose to honour the land and its ancient beliefs – whether that is loudly, joyfully and with others, or quietly, reverently and alone – know that you are not alone in choosing to mark the passing of time. It is up to us to ensure this gift of life remains special to us. Walking the land, in and of itself, is a ritual. We just have to choose to see it as such
When the world is chaotic and we cannot control the onslaught, we must do as we have always done. Return to our roots.
As ever, onwards my tribe 👣
Jenni
