May Day Archives - Religious Holidays

Fire with dancers in middle of crowd, nighttime

The Beltane Fire Festival at Calton Hill, Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo by Martin Robertson, courtesy of Flickr

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1: Enjoy the beauty of spring and summer today! May 1 is the Pagan and Wiccan festival of Beltane, a joyous festival that celebrates the renewal and bounty of nature. Beltane (or Samhain, in the southern hemisphere) falls on a date approximately halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice.

Original Beltane festivals date back thousands of years to ancient Ireland and Scotland, and today, a revival of these ancient rites is bringing Celtic people back to their roots. Dancing around a Maypole might not be a feasible activity for most people today, but everyone can rejoice in spring by taking a nature walk, placing fresh flowers around the home or eating traditional foods like oats and dairy.

Ancient Beltane rituals often revolved around fertility; as time progressed, enormous community bonfires on Beltane Eve signified purity and the coming warmth and light of summer months. Early season herbs, such as juniper, were often thrown onto fires to add blessing to the smoke, and pagans would often run between two fires for luck. Wiccans of today mark Beltane as one of eight sabbats, or holidays.

The greatest Beltane Eve festival today is the Edinburgh Beltane Fire Festival, an extravagant event on Calton Hill in Scotland that attracts approximately 15,000 people annually. (Beltane.org is the official site.) The Beltane Fire Festival began during the night of April 30 in 1988, and has since provided spectators with a wide array of performances, hypnotic drum beats and more, by firelight.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1: It’s May Day! Gather ‘round the May Pole and roll in the morning dew for the ancient celebration of spring. In Gaelic history, today is Beltane—otherwise known as the halfway point between spring equinox and summer solstice. Although many traditional May Day festivities had ceased by the mid-20^th century, there has been an upsurge among modern Pagans. One of the biggest is the Beltane Fire Festival of Calton Hill, Edinburgh, Scotland, which has been drawing crowds since 1988 for a rebirth of the famed nighttime ritual of Beltane bonfires.

Ancient Beltane events were performed with reverence for the spirits and faeries of springtime. In Celtic times, customs began the night before May 1, with enormous bonfires believed to hold protective powers. (Wikipedia has details.) Cattle and other livestock were driven between two bonfires, men leapt over the fires and the ashes were sprinkled on homes and crops, all in efforts to ensure a plentiful, healthy and fruitful year. In Celtic times, fertility rituals also were practiced around May Day.

On May 1, Celts collected the “magical” May morning dew for auspicious washing and drinking. Decorated poles and bushes were decorated for dancing, homes were adorned with yellow May flowers and women braided wildflowers into their hair. To ensure a bountiful dairy season, yellow flowers were sometimes made into bouquets and garlands and fastened to cows. In Dublin and Belfast, May bushes were decorated by an entire neighborhood, and neighborhoods competed to present the most beautiful May bush! Create your own May Day crafts with help from Mother Nature Network. Oatmeal cakes, honey and dairy foods were often consumed on Beltane and May Day.

Today’s Wiccans mark Beltane as one of the yearly Sabbats, or seasonal festivals.

In Hawaii, May Day has been known as “Lei Day” since 1928, in reverence for Hawaiian culture and, especially, the lei.