Beltane in Britain

01988, Tana Culain, .K.A.M.

eltane, or May Day, is B one of the few holidays left in England and North America which has managed to remain almost exclusively Pagan. Yule was absorbed into Christmas, Hallows into All Souls and Halloween, Spring Equinox into Easter and so on around the calen- dar. But May Day has re- mained a Pagan holiday, and all attempts to whitewash it or tone it down have only added fuel to the fire, in this case the “bright fire” that the Celtic Beltane becomes in English translation. It is the first day of summer. If you visit the village of Pad- stow in Cornwall for May May Day Song (Traditional) Day you will see and perhaps join in an ancient ritual. At dawn the Padstow Hobby I’ve been a wandering all this night Horse, or “Old ‘Oss”, emerg- es from his stable at the Red And the best part of the day Lion IM and prances through And when I come back home again the streets, preceded by scores of accordions and I will bring you a branch of May. drums, followed by cheering throngs. A branch of May I bring you here The men that animate the al- And at your door I stand. most dragonlike black canvas drum that forms the ‘Oss’s It’s nothing but a sprout body are from particularvil- But it’s well budded-out lage families; the honor is hereditary. Through all the By the work of the Gods own hands. hours of daylight the ‘Oss dances through the village, “riding” his different men, sampling the odd pint of beer at each pub, spurred along by male and fe- male “teasers” waving a small replica of the ‘Oss on a stick.

‘K’A’M., A Journal of Traditional Wicca 4 Volume 8.1 Beltaine, 1988 his skirts for even a second is with a wreath of hawthorn said to be guaranteed a child around his face, and within the year. hawthorn leaves sprouting in profusion from his mouth, The “team” of villagers at- eyes and ears. Sometimes he tending the ‘Oss, playing the is found on older English music, teasing, dancing him churches, often at the Pagan through the streets are North Door, a token of how dressed all in white with bold superficial the conversion of red sashes. Called the “Red the Pagan masons must have Team”, these families have been. been selected to tend the ‘Oss over the years. The white symbolizes the Sun, red the sap and blood of life. The ‘Oss himself is black, for the Old God must die in order for the New God to return with The evening before, most of the Sun and bring new life for the village gathers branches another year. of “May”, tying them to A “Blue Team” was founded building posts and door- after the First War and built ways. A crowd begins to their own ‘Oss as a part of the build outside the “Lion”, so Temperance Movement. thick in the Inn and street Membership in the “Blue outside that pints of ale are Team” is far less restrictive, being passed through the and while their spirit doesn’t pub’s sidewalk-level win- .seem to rival the “Reds”, they dows, along with the occa- do seem to have mellowed sional drinker. When the time over the years. In villages like Dorset’s is right the evening song is Ceme Abbas, all who had the sung en masse in anticipation Naturally Padstow has a desire went up the hill, or of the dawn. The streets are Maypole. Many other villages “Up Giant” on May Eve. thronged, the crowds drunk- and towns in Britain also There, at the head of the en and ebullient. An enor- erect the red and white totem enormous Guardian carved in mous maypole is bedecked of fertility, harking back to the chalk hillside, they just up the hill from the the tree worship of earlier danced about the great bon- butcher’s, At daybreak the days. Villages tend to limit fire to welcome back the sun. sleepy fishing port seems to the dancing to the Maypoles The great naked God remains have magi&ally budded now, but there were times carved into the hill today, re- overnight. long ago when the bonfire, or freshed religiously by the vil- Bel’s fire was the center of lage and National Trust, and At times during the day the the May Day dance. May- obviously quite ready to rise ‘Oss represents the old God, poles are often made of to the Great Rite. The God, and every so often he sinks hawthorn, representing the perhaps a relative of Windsor to the ground, as if dead. The joy of summer’s return. Forest’s Heme the Hunter, crowd woos him back to life was carved from the chalk by with cheers and shouts, and The “Green Man” or “Jack in the Celtic tribes around 500 he springs erect as a new, the Green” is often depicted B.C.E. To this day He is a young God, amid much mu- visible source of benevolence sic and hurrah. Any young and protection. woman “captured” by the hobby horse and held under

‘K’A’M’, A Journal of Traditional Wicca Volume 8.1 Beltaine, 1988 After the fire dance people dance. Despite the clamor of In Scotland the shepherds retired into the woods below. the instruments they seemed and cowherders blessed their Couples often emerged the to glide in eerie silence, like animals on Beltane by mak- next morning at dawn, be- maenads of a forbidden rite. ing special cakes and ale. decked with flowers and little He felt lucky to get out alive. Some of the cake was thrown else. A 1583 puritan observer Great way to raise a cone of over the shoulder, bit by bit, growled “Hundreds of men, power - I should know, as as a libation. With each piece women and children go off to I was one of the dancers. thrown a different predator the woods and groves and was called spend all the night in pas- upon - the times, and in the morning re- fox, the crow, turn with birch boughs and the eagle - branches of trees to deck and asked to their assembles withal.” The spare the sex wasn’t just simple and flock. Along blessed carnality - it was the coast, en- sympathetic magick to en- tire fishing vil- courage animals and plants to lages wove go and do likewise! flower gar- lands, casting Babes born nine months after them upon the were regarded as a special waves far out gift from the God on the hill, to sea to en- not necessarily fathered by courage a one’s mate. Intercourse on good catch. the Giant’s phallus has long been regarded as a sure way Robin of the to obtain a child within the Wood (Robin year. The Celts, like the Hood), Jack northern Picts and many oth- in the Green, er peoples living on the mar- St. George, gin of tribal survival had a Green strong interest in keeping the George, the population up at all costs. King of May, People, cattle, crops - all the Green Man had to multiply steadily in or- The Celts hardly invented . . . all of these beloved danc- der for life to continue. Beltane - the holiday has ers are the faces of a single lived like a welcome guest in Persona - the God of Sum- Morris Dancing is enjoying a many other civilizations. The mer. Cloaked in green or resurgence in popularity in Romans celebrated the begin- wicker or disguised as a England and North America ning of summer in early Hobby Horse, his Will is the year round, although there May, calling the festival Flor- same - the return of life and are definitely special perfor- alia in honor of Flora, the growth after the deathlike mances at Beltane. Men and Goddess of spring and flow- Winter is past. women, dressed in colorful ering plants. Children wore “kit”, dance to concertinas, garlands of fresh-picked Even the United States has a accordions and drum, often flowers to Flora’s scented God of Summer, worshipped rhythmically beating the temple, dancing about a mar- in millions of homes and dis- ground with great staffs to ble column and strewing played in talismanic form to wake the Earth to bud and flowers on Her Altar. The keep foods wholesome and flower. My husband once wreath of flowers worn by pure. I speak, of course, of viewed a Women’s team at the Spring Maiden in many Himself, the Jolly Green sunset as they floated above Equinox traditions harks G&jid!$sFo Ho! Lucky the field, wheeling through back to Her youthful wor- . the turns and twists of the shippers.

*K-A-M, A Journal of Traditional Wicca 6 Volume 8.1 Beltaine, 1988