Beltane Day 2024 is on Tuesday, April 30, 2024: Beltane May Day!?

Tuesday, April 30, 2024 is Beltane Day 2024. Beltane Fire Festival Picture – Scotland Photo - National ... Beltane Fire Festival

Beltane/ May Day!?

Blessed Beltane! :-) And merry meet.

Anything to celebrate the union of the Lord and Lady would be appropriate, in my opinion -- even if it's something as simple as casting circle, inviting Them to join you and bless you with Their energy, and reading love/erotic poetry! This is one of my favorites.

We Two—How Long We were Fool’d

(Walt Whitman (1819–1892). Leaves of Grass. 1900)

We two—how long we were fool’d!

Now transmuted, we swiftly escape, as Nature escapes;

We are Nature—long have we been absent, but now we return;

We become plants, leaves, foliage, roots, bark;

We are bedded in the ground—we are rocks;

We are oaks—we grow in the openings side by side;

We browse—we are two among the wild herds, spontaneous as any;

We are two fishes swimming in the sea together;

We are what the locust blossoms are—we drop scent around the lanes, mornings and evenings;

We are also the coarse smut of beasts, vegetables, minerals;

We are two predatory hawks—we soar above, and look down;

We are two resplendent suns—we it is who balance ourselves, orbic and stellar—we are as two comets;

We prowl fang’d and four-footed in the woods—we spring on prey;

We are two clouds, forenoons and afternoons, driving overhead;

We are seas mingling—we are two of those cheerful waves, rolling over each other, and interwetting each other;

We are what the atmosphere is, transparent, receptive, pervious, impervious:

We are snow, rain, cold, darkness—we are each product and influence of the globe;

We have circled and circled till we have arrived home again—we two have;

We have voided all but freedom, and all but our own joy.

Beltane-----(May Day)?

Beltane-----(May Day)?

Yes, I am. Celtic "days" start at dusk, so Wednesday night, we are starting our Beltane celebration by going to hear my friend play Irish music at his pub, then stay up all night Wednesday/Thursday and then at dawn Thursday -- literally dawn, at 5 am -- we go to a beautiful rose garden overlooking our city and meet up with another 100 or so people to watch the Morris Dancers, and do the May Pole. It's wonderful to watch the dancers, and also to see the sun come up over the city. It's amusing to watch the early morning joggers run past and look at us all very oddly ..."Pagans with flowers" is not what they're expecting from us, since we're usually on the news more at Samhain when we're all a bit "darker" looking.

Then we're going out to breakfast en masse. I'll give my neighbours flowers sometime during the day. I've been invited to two other Beltane celebrations this weekend. I don't know which one I'll go to.

I hope you have a wonderful Beltane and have something fun to do.

Are beltane(may day) and lathi(summer solstice) associated with land?

Are beltane(may day) and lathi(summer solstice) associated with land?

Anything which is associated to pagan/wiccan holidays usually is associated with the land.....Pagan/Wiccan law, requires the pagan/wiccan to live in accordance to the earth and her ways.

Beltane (May Day) (All Hallows eve in Australia.)

April 30 (beginning at sundown) (October 30 to 31st in Australia.)

Theme: Fertility; Passion; Fullness of Life

Type: Seasonal Holiday ~ Final Spring Festival

Beltane is the last of three Spring festivals. Spring is in its fullest expression; fertility and life is all around us. Traditionally this was a time for blessing the fields and the animals to promote fertility and abundance. Fertility rites are performed, such as leaping the fire, and dancing the maypole (an ancient fertility symbol with the pole representing the phallus and the woven ribbons representing the vulva).

It is a time for celebrating love and union ... the fertility of people, plants and animals, and also of projects and endeavors. It is a unashamed celebration of sexuality -- the joy of sexual union and love. In Celtic tradition, lovers found each other by the glow of the bonfires, and made love on the hillsides. Through these rights the fertility of the Earth is stimulated sympathetically. Beltane is a very popular time for handfastings (a non-legal bonding ceremony) or marriages.

Joy and celebration are the hallmarks of Beltane. It is not a time for deep contemplation or meditation, but rather a time to dance with the energy and rhythms of the earth. To celebrate life and growth in all its forms -- within and without. It is a time to call energy for new projects and undertakings, and to honor the growing fullness of our lives.

Lathi / Midsummer (SummerSolstice)

approximately June 21st (November 21st in Australia.)

Theme: First day of Summer; the Triumph of the Sun; Magick Type: Solar Holiday; longest day of the Year

Midsummer is the counter-point to Yule on the Wheel of the Year. It is the longest day -- the triumph of the light half of the Year. When the sun has reaches its peak, the Wheel turns to restore balance. In the days that follow, the nights will grow longer and longer, the sun’s power slowly waning. Traditionally, the Celts set wheels (as symbols of the sun) on fire and rolled them down the hillsides to celebrate the power of light, and recognize the imminent decline of the sun. Bonfires were lighted and jumped, and the ashes scattered on the fields to bless and fertilize them.

Despite the name, Midsummer actually marks the first day of Summer. It is a time of ripeness and fullness. Summer is in full bloom and the Earth is alive with abundance and the promise of the harvest to come. The energetic, passionate dance of Beltane has deepened to a rich, deep pulse... the promise of fertility maturing into abundance. Yet the knowledge that tomorrow the sun begins to wane reminds us that all things fade ... that change is inevitable ... that Nature demands balance. Here in the height of Summer, we do not mourn the passing of things, but celebrate the the fullness of our experiences.

Midsummer has long been associated with magick, bright mystery and faery realms. It is a time when the veils between the human world and the Land of Faery may be easily parted. This is a night to leave offerings of milk and bread for the Fay Folk to ensure their goodwill and promote harmony. Midsummer is a good time for magickal workings and journeying between the worlds.

Holidays also on this date Tuesday, April 30, 2024...