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Beltane (April 31st-May 1st)

Also referred to as Roodmas, Rood day, the Eve of St Walburga's Day and Walpugis Nacht (these last two show relations with St Walburga, who was born in Sussex and died in AD180 after emigrating to Germany. Walburg is also an old Teutonic name for the Earth Mother), this date also marks the festivals of Hades or Pluto, God of the Underworld.

Beltane, similarly to the Spring Equinox, is a fertility festival but this, the first day of Summer, is indeed an extravagant holiday. The British countryside is now filled with the delicate May blossoms of the Hawthorn tree. This is the Love Dance of the Gods, the Wedding of Heaven and Earth, the Bridal feast of the Goddess! The month of May is named for Maia. This festival is the time of Her wedding to the God. At Beltane, our energies are turned toward the animal kingdom: the fertility of livestock and humans, and the love and union which brings a Harvest of new life among us.

When, on May Eve, the Druids raised the Beltane fires on hilltops throughout the British Isles , they were performing a real act of magick, because the fires were lit in order to bring the Sun's light down to earth. In Scotland, every fire in the household was extinguished, and the Great Fires were lit from the Need Fire, which was kindled by three groups of three men using wood from the nine sacred trees. When the wood burst into flames, it proclaimed the triumph of the light over the dark half of the year. The nine sacred woods used were:

Birch

The Goddess, or Female Energy

Oak

The God, or Male Energy

Hazel

Knowledge and Wisdom

Rowan (Mountain Ash)

Life

Hawthorne

Purity and Faery Magick

Willow

Death, sacred to Hecate

Fir

Birth and Rebirth

Apple

Love and Family

Vine

Joy and Happiness

Then, suddenly the whole hillside would come alive as people thrust brands into the roaring flames and whirled them around their heads in imitation of the circling of the Sun. If any man there was planning a long journey or dangerous undertaking, he leapt backwards and forwards three times through the fire for luck. As the fire flames lowered, the girls jumped across it to procure good husbands; pregnant women stepped through it to ensure an easy birth, and children were also carried across the smouldering ashes. When the fire died down, the embers were thrown amongst sprouting crops to protect them, whilst each household carried some back to kindle a new fire in their hearth. When the sun rose that dawn, those who had stayed up to watch it might see it whirl

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