Beltane, Calan Mai, Just May 1 or Yes I May?

In Denmark May 1 is a day of joy to most Danes. The day is officially a day for the socialist party to gather the working class and speak about their rights while weaving their red banners. So most young people plan to be knuckle-deep in soil today, well arranged on the lawns all around the country for small and bigger open air arrangements, listening to political speeches, drinking in the sun and maybe find a new love. It has been that way since... Well who can really tell? We all know the focus should be on the speeches and the politics, and the rights of the working class, but ever since... It seems to have slipped in favor of the party going on.

To the Pagans, who follow Celtic spiritual paths, May 1 is the holy day known as Calan Mai or, more popularly, Beltane. In ancient times in the British Isles, Beltane was the time of year when tribes awoke from winter slumber and gathered together to celebrate the start of another — hopefully bountiful — agricultural season. For sunworshipers, this time of the year is the spring equinox.

It was also a time when farmers drove their livestock between two large bonfires in order to symbolically purify their animals to “ensure” they will grow to abundance before the following winter. Often called a fertility festival, Beltane is primarily a time of union, this is what draw lines up til recent times.

It’s about the union of masculine and feminine divinities mingling with the “spark” that leads to new life, that union is essential for new life to begin. On its own, a seed can do nothing. On its own, the earth is dormant. But combine the two, add a “spark” and watch new life unfold.

Many pagans traditionally celebrate Beltane by dancing around a maypole, weaving different coloured strands of ribbon around the long shaft. But Beltane isn’t only a time to celebrate fertility and agricultural abundance, It’s also a time for introspection and new beginnings.

Beltane is an opportunity to ask ourselves what do you feel passionate about? And what are you gonna do about it? Some will probably be dancing around maypoles today. Others will be holding low level rituals alone or with family and friends, some more aware of what they are actually doing than others.

Unlike in many faith traditions, in pagan religious practice it isn’t necessary with a community event, rather people concentrate on personal practice, and small-group studies and rituals. It takes people with a certain skill set to organize public rituals, and unlike many faith traditions, paganism is a very decentralized religion.

The word pagan is an umbrella term for people who follow a variety of mythologies and ritual practices. Modern pagans, sometimes called neo-pagans, might belong to a small group — often called a circle, coven or hearth — or choose to practice their faith on their own. Some try to follow a set of mythologies stemming from a particular place and time — such as Celtic, Norse, Mesopotamian or ancient Greek — while others mix-and-match elements of different mythologies for their own religious purposes.

For Beltane, some practitioners will dance around a maypole and celebrate the fertility in all its agricultural and sexual connotations. Pagans can still respect that the concerns of ancient pagans are still sacred, that the Earth is sacred, that getting together and valuing and celebrating fertility can be sacred.

But today, Beltane can be celebrated by keeping other kinds of creative endeavours in mind, it doesn’t just have to be about sex. As practitioners have babies and meet all the demands that a growing family brings, some are practicing their faith at home in smaller ways rather than going to larger public celebrations.

Some rituals are obscured more than others, but the real question is, which or how many of them you follow without you even knowing it.

The pictures are taken at "The Beltane Fire Festival" 2008 held in Edinburgh.