Oct – Beltane – 31st Oct (Halloween in Northern)
Beltane is known as the Love and Fertility festival. The God and Goddess lay with one another and the Goddess, budding with pregnancy blessed the land with her fertility. This festival is traditionally celebrated with friends and lots of feasting with everyone jumping over the Beltane fire to bring in the fertility to their lives. I have a story about one such Beltane fire that I jumped, it was when I was looking to have a child, and so it happen that I jumped over this one time asking the Goddess to bless me with a child and then in two months was pregnant with my first born. So this fertility festival is a powerful one.
In the olden times the single man and women of the village would all dance around a “May Pole” (as May is the date it is celebrated in the Northern Hemisphere) This dance was to draw in the person who you would spend the night with, ribbons were attached to the top of the pole and then the ribbons were held, red for the Man and white for the Women and then they would weave in and out of each other going clockwise and as they got closer to the pole so they would get closer to each other, until they ended up facing their partner. It is still a fun activity to do with the kids, or if you are single a great way to meet someone ?
Beltane is not an indoor festival as it is all about getting out into the warm night and breathing in the fresh air, dancing, singing and enjoying yourself.
The colours for this festival are red, white and green, the plants are honeysuckle, roses, strawberries and lilies.