Beltane, the May Queen
Beltane was a devotee of Brigid, one of her druidic high priestesses concerned with ritual protection and worship of the ruling gods. The festival that came to be most associated with her, and eventually known by her own name, was also called Cétshamhain, and was one of the four major quarter-day festivals of the Celtic Wheel of the Year. Alongside Samhain, its opposite and counterpart, it was considered the most important date in the calendar.
Beltane marked the arrival of Summer, and was a time to welcome the warmer months, rejoice in life, and lay protections for the Winter to come. As High Priestess, Beltane herself presided over the festivities in the Tuatha de’s greatest city, which were echoed all throughout the Celtic lands in honour of the gods. She also travelled to offer Brigid’s sacred blessings at Imbolc (between Winter solstice and the Spring equinox), sanctioned marriage rites among the Dagda, and held the yearly Samhain vigils in Lugh’s name.
Beltane itself lasted from dusk until the following dusk. The night was a celebration of cleansing fire, vitality, and new life. Its rituals were raw and deeply connected to the earth, designed to strengthen the bindings on Samhain while the veil was thin, to unite its people (all the households in the community were connected to one another through the sacred Beltane Fire in their hearths), and to give praise and offerings to the gods which ruled the land and kept it safe and abundant. Giant bonfires marked a spiritual firewall against malevolent forces and acted as a booster for the land’s fertility, the ashes used as decoration on skin, denoting patterns of protection. Celebrations were exemplified by feasting, dancing, sexuality, and unification. Babies conceived on Beltane were thought to be blessed by the gods. For those who may have found one another on a previous Beltane eve, it was not an uncommon night for marriages.
Beltane herself is sometimes considered the consort of Cernunnos the antlered god who was part man and part stag, both hunter and hunted. He is said to be born on the darkest day of the year, winter solstice, and married to the goddess of spring, Beltane. Six months later, on summer solstice, he then is thought to die. It is likely this union was a rite in itself, the marriage a scared and symbolic one.
During the daytime festivities, Beltane celebrations sometimes selected a May Queen, who was usually crowned with flowers and hawthorn. A male companion could also be chosen, to act as consort, and was personified as the Green Man.
Beltane, like Samhain, was a time when the veil between the worlds was thought to be thin. But while Samhain was when the wandering souls of the dead roamed free, Beltane merrymakers must watch for faeries, or Aos Sí. It’s said that Beltane was the night when the queen of the faeries would ride out on her white steed to entice humans away to Faeryland. Many Beltane rituals were carried out to both honour and appease the faeryfolk. It was a night mysterious, wild, and deeply connected to the natural world.
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