#bealltainn

[everseasons]

[practicingpolytheism]

Is anyone else bothered by the anglicization of Beltaine (it’s my understanding that there’s also Scottish and Manx spellings but I use the Irish one) to Beltane? To the point where autocorrect and search engines correct you if you type Beltaine. It’s not an English holiday, the correct spellings are not that difficult for English speakers so it’s not necessary to change it, and something about it just feels… I don’t know how to put it to words better but wrong. Maybe it’s a nitpick but I don’t like the erasure of the proper spellings.

[witchothebogfolk]

Beautiful, vibrant Bealltainn colours today!

[domestick-clairvoyante]

samhain sona! bealltainn sona!

happy samhain to all my fellow southern hemisphere witches, and happy bealltainn to all my northern hemisphere witches.

enjoy these transition periods; you deserve to feel new.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[from my flickr files :: My Great Aunt Anna’s albums from Carnegie Tech::1910]

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Tonight some of the Celtic (and sundry miscellaneous pagan) folk will be lighting bonfires. It is the eve of Mayday, the usual date of celebration of Beltane - a fertility and fire festival held at the approximate midpoint between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice. On the actual day there is likely to be prancing around maypoles.. In the Christian calendar, the festival is associated with St Walpurgis, an 8th century Anglo-Saxon missionary to the Frankish Empire. She no longer gets an official feast day, but Walpurgisnacht involves the lighting of bonfires on May Eve... 

[Ian Sanders]

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“Nothing is ever lost as time passes, it merely metamorphoses into something as wonderful or, in some cases, into something even better than before.”

― Carole Carlton, Mrs Darley's Pagan Whispers: A Celebration of Pagan Festivals, Sacred Days, Spirituality and Traditions of the Year

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“At Bealltainn, or May Day, every effort was made to scare away the fairies, who were particularly dreaded at this season. In the West Highlands charms were used to avert their influence. In the Isle of Man the gorse was set alight to keep them at a distance. In some parts of Ireland the house was sprinkled with holy water to ward off fairy influence. These are only a mere handful out of the large number of references available, but they seem to me to reveal an effort to avoid the attentions of discredited deities on occasions of festival once sacred to them. The gods duly return at the appointed season, but instead of being received with adoration, they are rebuffed by the descendants of their former worshippers, who have embraced a faith which regards them as demons. In like manner the fairies in Ireland were chased away from the midsummer bonfires by casting fire at them. At the first approach of summer, the fairy folk of Scotland were wont to hold a "Rade," or ceremonial ride on horseback, when they were liable to tread down the growing grain.”

― Lewis Spence, British Fairy Origins

[panyav]

Happy Beltaine! 💚🌸⚘🌼 ☆ • ☆ • ☆ (Illustration by @nikitina.north ) #holiday #Beltaine #Beltane #Bealtaine #Bealltainn #Boaltinn #Boaldyn #CalanHaf #CalanMai #MayDay #MidSpring #Syncretism #Syncretist #Druidry #Druid #Witchcraft #Witch #Wicca #Wiccan #NeoPaganism #NeoPagan #ModernPaganism #ModernPagan #ContemporaryPaganism #ContemporaryPagan #EclecticPaganism #EclecticPagan #Paganism #Pagan #WheelOfTheYear https://www.instagram.com/p/CdCJZEypKGW/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[kayleightarot]

Latha Bealltainn! 

[hagothehills]

𝔹𝔼𝕃𝕋𝔸ℕ𝔼 / 𝕃À 𝔹𝔼𝔸𝕃𝕃𝕋𝔸𝕀ℕℕ

Beltane or Là Bealltainn (Scottish Gaelic, pronounced Byal-din) is held on 1st May and is one of the four quarter festivals of the Gaelic year.

The etymology of the word is uncertain, with folklorists believing its root is from the name of the Phoenician god Baal, and others believe it's root comes from old English bæl meaning fire, bonfire, or bale (fire). Other's think it stems from the Celtic god Bel or Belenos. It has a strong association with fire, and is often described as a fire festival due to its connection with the sun and the coming of summer, as well as the traditional use of bonfires and balefires to drive cattle through to rid them of evil or illness.

Là Bealltainn was seen as the beginning of summer and usually a time when cattle were driven out to their summer pastures.

This was also a time when it was believed witches would be up to their mischief and so people would put protections on their livestock and property by saining them. It was believed that those skilled in charms and magic were particularly powerful on quarter days, and so folk would ensure not to give out loans or even fire to a neighbour (in the form of kindling) as it was believe this could give them the means of taking the toradh (substance, benefit) from it. This was why blessing and protecting livestock was also important, in particular cattle so their milk couldn't be spoiled or stolen through magical means. If one did happen to to share their belongings or fire with another, even by accident, they would throw a piece of burning peat into a tub of water as soon as the neighbour left. This would counteract any evil intentions.

Houses and byres were decorated with hoops made from rowan, ivy and bramble to stop witches and fairies interfering. Tar was put behind the ears of cattle and the root of the tail on Bealltainn Eve

On 1st May, it was traditional to visit holy or healing wells to make a wish or seek a cure to an illness. St Fillans well was one such visited, as well as St Anthony's well in Holyrood Park where Edinburgh lasses visited at Beltane to drink from and make a wish.

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