Beltaine (also called Beltane, Bealtaine) is the Gaelic May Day festival. Widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, it was historically a holiday celebrated either by the calendar on May 1st, or at the point halfway between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, or at the nearest full moon to the latter. It started out as a blessing of the herds festival, done by driving your cattle or goats between two sacred fires to purify them, or blessing your home and cattle with flowers and plants such as primrose, hawthorne, gorse or hazel that had associations with fire.

Land blessing or warding was also common, with offerings made to the good folk and making a procession around the edge of your fields with blessed objects a popular option.

Wiccan Beltaine

The modern Pagan versions of Beltaine focus more on the fertility aspects that are connected to May Day. Dancing around Maypoles with ribbons is a euphemism for, well, just what it seems like enclosing a phallic pillar with something soft and sacred would be, and is meant to represent the union of the Goddess and God that is reflected everywhere in nature around us at this time.

Sacred Sex and Beltaine

Celebrating this festival in private with a lover is always appropriate. You need not get hung up on the genders of persons involved as ALL acts of love and pleasure are Her rituals.

You can celebrate with a sacred sexual ritual by creating ritual space and mindfully making love within it. Good places to celebrate in this way are a clean bedroom, on an altar atop a blanket laid out in your living room, in a tent outdoors or more traditionally in a plowed and planted field or garden. Cleanse the space, cast a circle, call the directions, ask for the blessing of gods or goddesses that feel appropriate to you. Once you raise energy, by mutual agreement you can direct it toward health and growth in the coming year or toward a shared goal.

A nice practice is the five-fold kiss, where you kiss one another on forehead, lips, heart, genitals, and feet with reverence (and sometimes mirth) as a ritual blessing. I have also seen it practiced as a seven-fold kiss on each of the chakra points. This is a particularly good way to begin, by blessing one another.

Celebrating in this way, blessing one another's bodies, can be incredibly intimate and can go a long way toward occupying our bodies as sacred space in the world.

Celebrating with Non-Pagans or Alone

When I have celebrated Beltaine in this way, I have often had partners who are not Pagan. However almost all my partners have been delighted to participate. Consent is important - so asking if your partner is comfortable with the more formal calling and casting is a good idea. If not, you can agree on something that works for you both.

Many non-pagans (especially those partnered with witches) are perfectly comfortable with you leading and performing the grounding, casting, calling, and invoking parts of the ritual. If you need to make it less overt or formal, you can negotiate that you do those things silently in your head at the beginning. At a minimum you can just set a shared intention that this is a sacred practice, and that the intention is to be mindful.

Folks without an available partner to celebrate in this way can celebrate Beltaine alone with a self-blessing ritual. Why not treat yourself as lovingly as you would another person, with the gods to witness?

But Beltaine isn't only about sex, is it?

It depends on who you ask. It is perfectly fine to celebrate Beltaine as a land and crops purification and blessing without any sexual imagery or practice. Jumping over a bonfire for purification, or decorating a May Bush are other practices associated with Beltaine that have no sexual connotations. Not all in nature is sexual. When celebrating with kids or groups, you can all walk between two fires with any valued pets or stuffed animals in arms or decorate your space or the perimeter of your home or land with garlands or posies of flowers and sacred herbs. The main thing is to love and bless yourselves, one another and your home or growing spaces.

Sacred Foods

Beltaine lends itself to ribald humour and suggestive foods. Luckily, there are lots available. If you think about it with new eyes, you can try pastries like eclairs or Maltese patsizzi, as your new Beltaine tradition. Or focus on aphrodisiac foods like oysters, sausages, and mangoes.

Whatever way you celebrate this blessed spring, I hope you have an enjoyable and blessed Beltane!