Beltane Ceremony | Monday May 3rd | 5:30pm PT, 8:30pm ET
Beltane marks the midpoint between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. This year of 2021 this moment falls close to midnight on May 4th. Like the full moon the power lies in the 30 hours on either side of the precise astrological timing and so Village Green will celebrate with song, blessing and story on Monday night of May 3 as we walk into the energy of the sacred marriage between the young god and the maiden. It is over the convenience of religious calendars that these ancient ceremonies were marked in human time and human convenience. So it is that across the Northern Hemisphere we celebrate May Day on May 1st.
For those not in the Village Green, we ask that you register for the call
Suggested Donation of $25.
For Village Green members, all the information is in Events and there will be a recording available.
Beltane
As a child at elementary school, May Day was celebrated with a maypole dance. They would pull out the old metal pole out of the shed and raise it up into a stand, webbing ribbons in green and red were attached. It was the children awaiting their eleven plus exam results that had the honor of grabbing the webbing and we would watch as they tied themselves in knots. By the time I reached the upper class the pole no longer came out. We were left to leave anonymous flower posies on doorsteps to mark the ancient welcoming of summer on the horizon. Over the last thirty years, there has been a revival of the Pre-Christian ceremony, and Beltane, as a Mayday celebration, is sung and danced throughout Europe and Britain.
Beltane is a celebration of the sacred marriage between the young god and the Goddess. Prior to Christian ethics and the promotion of prudery by the church, this act was seen as literal. You celebrated fertility by being and acting fertile. It was said that a child conceived on the May night was sacred to the Goddess. This child would be born along with the lambing season at Imbolc. Some say King Arthur was a Beltane baby and the truth lies in the mists of time.
In its ancient roots, the Maypole lies in the mythology of the Tree of Life; the great renewal of light, fertility, and abundance. Nature is truly celebrated here as the multi-faceted, sensory binary face, known to us as The Green man. The Greenman is the eternal law of Nature and embodies the ancient wisdom. The Greenman is neither feminine or masculine and holds the sacredness of fluidity. The Greenman’s time is now. It is the green of the vegetation and of the trees that balance our groundwater, the weather, and the electromagnetic field. The trees connect heaven and earth and have participated fully with the evolution of life. Thus they carry the memories from the beginning of time and as we consciously reconnect with the eternal aspect of nature we dance our prayer of abundance and fertility around the Maypole.
What to bring to the Ceremony
- Candle to be lit
- Flowers and flower crown
- For children – Daisy chains and Daisy chain crowns
- Strawberries or other fruit
- Flowered clothing if you have it
- Dress up the Zoom frames with greenery
- Bluebells, Flowering Hawthorn, and Lilac are associated with Beltane
Join us for the celebration and ceremony.
Blessings,
Sarah