Beltane and May Day

Beltane as the start of Summer, is the ancient corresponding festival of Samhain (Halloween), the start of Winter. Mayday is not only a distress call; it is also Beltane.

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The First day of May marks
  the ancient feast of Beltane.

We are celebrating a couple of days late,
  but that's OK.

Beltane has its own Season,
  a.k.a. Summer!

According to Celtic tradition,
  Beltane marks the beginning of Summer
    as Samhain (Halloween) marks
      the beginning of Winter.

So Blessed Beltane!

Happy Beltane, my friends!

It really is a glorious celebration
  from ancient times.

I'm proud to share with you
  that my family includes a Beltane baby,
    at least in the modern sense:
      My granddaughter, Kyla,
        was born on May 1, 1999,
          21 years ago last Friday.

The traditional meaning of a Beltane baby
  refers to a baby born
    about nine months after Beltane,
      and there is a good, traditional reason for that.

You see, Beltane celebrates
  not only the start of Summer
    and the Celtic Sun God, Bel (or Belenos/us),
      it's also a sacred day for the ancient Goddess
        of Fertility, the May Queen,
          (whose name, Creiddylad, KRahay-TH-IHL-aeD
            is difficult to pronounce!),
              and you can imagine (if you want to)
                what the celebration of some of her rites
                  was like.

Her name is a form
  of the English and German name, Cordelia.

At least that form of her name
  is much easier to pronounce!

The song from the musical play, Camelot,
  "The Lusty Month of May,"
    includes the lyrics:
      sung by GUENEVERE:
Tra la! It's May!
The lusty month of May!
That lovely month when ev'ryone goes
Blissfully astray.

That recurring verse at least gives us some idea
  of the rites of Spring that were traditionally
     celebrated around Beltane.

The Beltane bonfires are another custom
  that celebrate the arrival of warmer weather
    and the joys of Summer.

The bonfires were sacred to the Celtic God Bel,
  who was god of the sun and fire.

The name of the festival, Beltane,
  means Fire of Bel (Bel means shining,
    and Tane means fire.)

Like Samhain, or Halloween,
  Beltane is a thin time
    in which the veil between worlds
      is almost thin enough to see through it.

As I've said in relation to Samhain,
  I can feel the thin time
    mostly by recognizing the spirits of nature
      that are around us all the time.

Everything that breathes has spirit,
  since breath is the meaning of the word, spirit.

Like the last day of October,
  the first day of May is sacred
    to all life,
      but in opposite ways.

Life is becoming dormant, going to sleep,
  at the start of the Season of Cold and Quiet.

Life is waking up, returning to activity,
  at the start of the Season of Warmth and Growth.

We recognize the feeling if we stop to think about it.

We ourselves are a part of natural life in our world.

Sometimes we forget this,
  and we need experiences of awakening.

May Day gives us exactly that,
  an opportunity to recognize our place
    in the overall scheme of things.

Likewise, the emergency call of Mayday, Mayday,
  can provide an experience of waking up.

It began to be used as an emergency call
  in 1923
    because it sounds a lot like the French word,
      m'aider, meaning help me!

We are in a planetary emergency now,
  because of a global pandemic.

It may just be that we are being called upon
  to wake up
    to the realities of our relationship to other people
      and to the rest of the world in which we live.

If we accept this opportunity
  and begin to move forward with the idea
    that good can come
      of the experience of these days,
        then the difficulties and losses
          can be an opportunity for us all
            to make choices
              that will enable our survival.

We don't know yet
  how bad the pandemic will get,
    but that is at least partly up to us.

We don't know yet
  how many lessons we and others will learn from it,
    but that is even more up to us.

The most important lesson for us all
  will be compassion,
    the recognition that no one stands alone
      in suffering or in benefits.

Inequities in our economic system
  are standing out in sharp relief.

Our need to grasp the importance
  of the world of nature, and we are a part of nature,
   the well being of all living things
      including ourselves
        is becoming clearer and clearer
          along with the water and the air
            becoming clearer in places all over the world
              where pollution was obscuring
                 everyone's vision of things around them.

Ours is not the first Beltane season
  in which a cry of Mayday went out
    for all the world to see.

The first day of May is the world's true Labor Day
  ever since the Haymarket Square riots in Chicago,
    on May 4, 1886.

The riot first broke out as a result of protests
  seeking an eight hour work day for laborers.

From our perspective today,
  the eight hour work day does not seem
    such an unreasonable demand.

Another Beltane season event
  that provided a Mayday call to our nation and world
    took place at Kent State University
      on May 4, 1970.

National Guard troops fired
  on a crowd of students,
    killing four of them.

Not all of those who died
  were protesting,
    but those who were protesting
      were opposing the bombing of Cambodia
        during the Vietnam War.

From the perspective of today,
  the protests against the illegal incursion
    into another sovereign nation,
      expanding a war zone,
        does not seem so unreasonable.

Many events and choices
  seem different
    from the perspective of a different time.

The balancing of one need
  with a different need
    is often the source of conflicts and crises
      in our lives.

In our time Beltane brings us all
  once again
    to a question of balance.

What will our priorities be?

Will we reopen our businesses too soon
  and invite the pandemic to reach new peaks?

Or will we reopen our society too late
  so that recovery will be impossible?

It is a delicate question of balance,
  and one that we will all have to consider together.

The wisdom of the ages will come to bear upon us.

Again, compassion will be the key.

In the question of opening soon enough
  without opening too soon, our compassion
    will be enabled by our having concern
      for each other's vulnerabilities.

Those of us who have
  pre-existing medical conditions
    that make us more vulnerable to disease
      will have to be considered if we are to survive.

Likewise, those who are on the edge
  of extreme poverty,
    who cannot withstand
      a financial emergency of $400,
        will have to be considered
          if our economy is to have any hope
            of recovery.

Beltane brings us precisely the lessons we need
  for our spiritual lives,
    for our ability to continue breathing,
      as individuals and as a culture.

We cannot ignore the world of nature.

We cannot ignore each other.

We cannot ignore anyone's needs,
  and we will have to learn to live together,
    sharing the resources of our world
      as stewards and not
        as masters and subjects.

The equality of the God and Goddess of Beltane,
  Bel and Cordelia
    set us an example in mythology
      that can enable us to live our own
        very real lives.

Amen.

So mote it be.

Blessed Be.