Beltane events are usually joyous, lively, celebratory affairs. A real festival. Like this: https://youtu.be/R-ZgZNwsiMA. It takes place at the height of spring, almost the beginning of summer, and is all about fertility and life-force and fire and light. But this year, obviously, the usual events can't take place. It's more subdued. Instead of large gatherings with feasting, music, dancing, and lots of merrymaking late into the night, people must stay at home, and light hearth fires instead of bonfires. It seems that this year the focus is more on moving from darkness into light, hope and healing, and remembering and connecting with all the non-human life we share this world with and which is still carrying on as normal.
A Facebook group I'm a member of, for local people of earth-based spiritual leanings who want to come together to celebrate the seasons, hosted a 'watch party' for a video live-streamed from Ireland at 9:20pm on Tuesday 5th. It was the lighting of the Bealtaine fire on the Hill of Uisneach, a sacred site in Irish mythology, believed to be the place where the earth goddess Ériu (after whom Ireland is named) gave the land to the Gaelic people, and the final resting place of both Ériu and the sun god Lugh. It is also said that every High King of Ireland went there as part of his king-making for a sacred ritual at Bealtaine where he symbolically married Ériu, tying his fate and fortune to that of the land.
The archaeological monuments and relics at Uisneach date back 5000 years to the Neolithic, through to the Bronze Age, and right up to the medieval period. There was even a medieval text providing a written account of the Bealtaine festivities there. 10 years ago the celebration was rekindled, and is now an annual event attracting thousands of people. This year's one was due to take place last Saturday, May 2nd. Obviously unable to hold a public event, the organisers decided to live-stream the lighting of the fire on Facebook instead, and chose to do it on the astronomical cross-quarter day itself, this year falling on Tuesday 5th May.
Shortly after 9pm, the local group host did a live video of her own before the Irish one, lighting her own little fire and offering a prayer to Brigid. Brigid is an Irish goddess usually associated with Imbolc, the previous cross-quarter festival on February 2nd, but she is also a goddess of healing - and obviously the world is very much in need of healing at the moment. There were only a few of us watching, but it was really nice to have that little connection, and to be invited to share somebody's own little simple ceremony and to know that the others were there too, interacting through the comments. The host invited us to light our own little Beltane fires and share them on the group page, too. I lit some candles, took a photo, and posted that. I've never met or spoken to anyone in the group; I would love to meet up with local pagan-minded people sometime, but generally can't easily get to where they meet.
For the ancient Irish, days began at sunset, and so the Bealtaine fire is lit at sunset. The Uisneach livestream was a little late starting, but by 9:30pm the bonfire was well and truly lit and blazing, and a piper was playing. The Facebook 'watch party' meant that the members of the local group could watch the livestream together, and interact with each other, rather than see and compete with all the comments from the hundreds of other people watching the livestream on the main organiser's page. They had also arranged lots of candles around the hilltop which formed a large heart shape. And what made it even more special was that the fire acted as a signal beacon. Minutes later, fires burned on distant hilltops in every direction. There's something exciting about long-distance visual communication things like that - signal fires and beacons, smoke signals, flags - and I'd love to see something like it in person.
I was due to go to the Beltane event at Butser Ancient Farm here in Hampshire on May 2nd, and was very disappointed that circumstances meant it was cancelled (among several other events I was looking forward to between March and May). I've been wanting to go for years and it would have been my first Beltane celebration. But I'm glad that the admin people on my local Facebook group found out about the Uisneach live-stream and that I remembered to tune in for it. It was simple, but lovely.
For the ancient Irish, days began at sunset, and so the Bealtaine fire is lit at sunset. The Uisneach livestream was a little late starting, but by 9:30pm the bonfire was well and truly lit and blazing, and a piper was playing. The Facebook 'watch party' meant that the members of the local group could watch the livestream together, and interact with each other, rather than see and compete with all the comments from the hundreds of other people watching the livestream on the main organiser's page. They had also arranged lots of candles around the hilltop which formed a large heart shape. And what made it even more special was that the fire acted as a signal beacon. Minutes later, fires burned on distant hilltops in every direction. There's something exciting about long-distance visual communication things like that - signal fires and beacons, smoke signals, flags - and I'd love to see something like it in person.
I was due to go to the Beltane event at Butser Ancient Farm here in Hampshire on May 2nd, and was very disappointed that circumstances meant it was cancelled (among several other events I was looking forward to between March and May). I've been wanting to go for years and it would have been my first Beltane celebration. But I'm glad that the admin people on my local Facebook group found out about the Uisneach live-stream and that I remembered to tune in for it. It was simple, but lovely.
A little song the host shared:
Holy water, sacred flame,
Brigid, we invoke your name.
Bless my hands, my head, my heart,
Source of healing, song, and art.
I had been hoping to go to the Butser event too, maybe next year :)
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