Beltane or Beltaine (from Irish Beáltaine or Scottish Gaelic Bealtuinn; both from Old Irish Beltene, "bright fire" from *belo-te(p)niâ) is an ancient Gaelic holiday celebrated around May 1. "Bealtaine" (pronounced IPA /ˈbʲɑlˠ.t̪ˠə.n̪ʲə/) is the name in modern Irish for the month of May. It is also the traditional first day of summer in Ireland. It is a Cross-quarter day being midpoint in the Sun's progress between the Vernal Equinox an ...

Read more here: » Beltane: Encyclopedia - Beltane

Beltane is celebrated on May 1st and is one of the original Celtic festivals. Beltane or May Day is also known as the Lover's holiday. Beltane is one of the four Celtic Fire festivals, and is probably the second most important festival next to Samhain. Beltane is primarily a sun festival and was performed during the day. The most important part of Beltane was the kindling of the fires. The Irish Celts would extinguish their fires the night before and would eat a cold meal to insure that all fires were out. Then they would attend the ceremony, returning with an ember to once more start their fires.

Read more here: » Beltane: Beltane - May 1 or May Day

Beltane is celebrated on May 1st and is one of the original Celtic festivals.

7 recipies for Beltane including MEADE, FARLS, BELTANE CREAM PIE, OATCAKES - IRISH, OATCAKES - SCOTS, IRISH SODA BREAD, SAND TARTS (OLD GERMAN STYLE)

Read more here: » Beltane: Beltane - May Day Recipes

Beltane - Pronounced "Bal-tene". The Irish festival of May 1. Called Bealtiunn in Scotland, Shenn da Boaldyn in the Isle of Man, and Galan-Mai in Wales

(See also: Beltane , Pagan, Wicca Pagan Dictionary)

BELTANE OR BEALTAINE-   This Sabbat is celebrated on May 1st.  It is rife with fertility rituals and symbolimsm, and is a celebration of the sacred marriage of the Goddess and God. the festival celebrated on April 30th or May 1st. It also celebrates the maturity of the God to manhood and the union of the God and Goddess, and her fertility. Also the traditional Sabbath where the rule of the "Wheel of the Year" is returned to the Goddess. Also called May Day, the old English May Pole tradition was of a phallic symbol, marking the return of vitality, passion and consumated hopes. One of the Ancient Celtic "Fire Festivals." on this night, the cattle were driven between two bonfires to protect them from disease. Couples wishing for fertility would " jump the fires" on Beltane night. This Festival also marks the transition point of the threefold Goddess energies from those of Maiden to Mother Pronounced b' YALt'n. Also see NOSWYL MAI.

(See also: BELTANE, BEALTAINE , Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Beltane

A Wiccan sabbat and Celtic holiday held between spring and the onset of summer, between April 30th and May 1st. Also called Walpurgisnacht,

(See also: Beltane , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

April 30 - May Eve - Beltaine

'Beltane' means 'fire of Bel', Belinos being one name for the Sun God, whose coronation feast we now celebrate. As summer begins, weather becomes warmer, and the plant world blossoms, an exuberant mood prevails. It is a time of unabashed sexuality and promiscuity. Young people spend the entire night in the woods 'a-maying', and dance around the phallic Maypole the next morning. Older married couples may remove their wedding rings (and the restrictions they imply) for this one night. May morning is a magical time for 'wild' water (dew, flowing streams, and springs) which is collected and used to bathe in for beauty, or to drink for health. The Christian religion had only a poor substitute for the life-affirming Maypole - namely, the death-affirming cross. Hence, in the Christian calendar, this was celebrated as 'Roodmas'. In Germany, it was the feast of Saint Walpurga, or 'Walpurgisnacht'. An alternative date around May 5 (Old Beltaine), when the sun reaches 15 degrees Taurus, is sometimes employed by Covens. (The name 'Lady Day' is incorrectly assigned to this holiday by some modern traditions of Wicca.)

Read more here: » Wiccan Holidays: April 30 - May Eve - Beltaine (Beltane)

SEXUAL COME-ONS AT PAGAN FESTIVALS - An Open Letter to the Web of Oz

Like many another Neo-Pagan, I began life under the heavy indoctrination of Christian precepts. Like many others, I found this upbringing to be not only painful, but psychologically damaging, as well. It has taken years of disciplined work to shrug off the feelings of guilt and self-recrimination foisted upon me during those years. Especially, I remember the pain of being taught to feel shame and remorse over each and every thought I had of a sexual nature. And any overt sexual act (other than narrowly defined exceptions) was anathema -- a cause for eternal damnation. 

Read more here: » Paganism: SEXUAL COME-ONS AT PAGAN FESTIVALS - An Open Letter to the Web of Oz

A Welsh Myth Concordance

The following concordance is based on the four branches of the Welsh "Mabinogi", as retold in the four books by Evangeline Walton: "Prince of Annwn", "The Children of Llyr", "The Song of Rhiannon", and "The Island of the Mighty".

Wicca and Witchcraft: Holidays in Wicca and Witchcraft

Includes:

October 31 - November Eve - Samhain

December 21 - Winter Solstice - Yule

January 31 - February Eve - Imbolc

March 21 - Vernal Equinox - Lady Day

April 30 - May Eve - Beltaine

June 21 - Summer Solstice - Litha

July 31 - August Eve - Lughnassad

September 21 - Autumnal Equinox - Harvest Home

Read more here: » Wicca and Witchcraft: Holidays in Wicca and Witchcraft

In the Wiccan form of neopaganism, a Sabbat is one of the eight major seasonal festivals which make up the Wheel of the Year. These include the solstices and equinoxes, and four additional festivals sometimes referred to as the "cross-quarter days". The word derives from Old English "sabat", from Old French "sabbat", from Latin "sabbatum", from Greek "sabbaton" (or sa`baton), from Hebrew "shabbat" - to cease or rest - the same roots as "Sabbath (christian)" or "Shabbat (judaism)". See also "sabbath". The word appears in the wri ...

Including:

• Sabbat neopaganism - Cross-quarter points on the Gregorian and astrological calendars

Read more here: » Sabbat neopaganism: Encyclopedia - Sabbat neopaganism

In Irish and Scottish mythology, Cailleach (also called Cailleach Beara or Cailleac Bheur) was the "Mother of All". The word Cailleach means "old woman". She was a sorceress. In addition to the Celts, the Picts also worshipped her. In art, she was depicted as a wizened crone with bear teeth and a boar's tusks. Each year, the first farmer to finish his harvest made a corn dolly representing Cailleach from part of his crop. He would give it to the next farmer to finish his harvest, and so on. The last farmer had the responsibility to take care of the corn dolly, repres ...

Read more here: » Cailleach: Encyclopedia - Cailleach

As the religion of the ancient Celts, the shifts in the fortunes of Celtic Polytheism coincided with those of its people. The Celts, like other ancient Indo-European peoples, practised a form of polytheism, which reached the apogee of its influence and territorial expansion during the 4th century BC, extending across the length of Europe from Great Britain to Asia Minor. From the 3rd century BC onward their history is one of decline and disintegration, and with Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul (58 –51 BC) Celtic independence came to ...

See also:

Celtic polytheism, Celtic polytheism - Extent of Celtic polytheism, Celtic polytheism - Research, Celtic polytheism - Syncretism with other forms of polytheism, Celtic polytheism - Cosmology and eschatology, Celtic polytheism - Worship, Celtic polytheism - Religious castes, Celtic polytheism - Druids, Celtic polytheism - Bards and filid, Celtic polytheism - Festivals, Celtic polytheism - Beltane, Celtic polytheism - Samhain, Celtic polytheism - Cults within Celtic polytheism, Celtic polytheism - Cult of Lugus-Mercurius, Celtic polytheism - Cults of tribalism lordly power and thunderous force, Celtic polytheism - Cult of radiance or healing, Celtic polytheism - Cult of youthful masculinity, Celtic polytheism - Cult of thermal spring-water, Celtic polytheism - Cult of impressiveness, Celtic polytheism - Cult of exaltedness, Celtic polytheism - Cult of Sucellos, Celtic polytheism - Cults of maritime forces, Celtic polytheism - Cults of craftsmanship, Celtic polytheism - Cults of agricultural gods, Celtic polytheism - Cult of terrestrial bounty, Celtic polytheism - Cult of the power of boggy terrain, Celtic polytheism - Cult of maternity, Celtic polytheism - Cults of femininity & majesty, Celtic polytheism - Cults of cyclicality in nature, Celtic polytheism - Cult of the trinitarian war-goddess, Celtic polytheism - Cults of fluvial water, Celtic polytheism - Cult of the stag’s vitality, Celtic polytheism - Cult of the bullish vitality, Celtic polytheism - Cult of horse power and horsemanship, Celtic polytheism - Deities, Celtic polytheism - The effect of Christianity, Celtic polytheism - Literature

Read more here: » Celtic polytheism: Encyclopedia II - Celtic polytheism - Extent of Celtic polytheism

1. ^  Old English wicce, feminine, corresponding to wicca, witch n.1, both of which are app. derivatives of wiccian, witch v.1. (definition) 1. a. A female magician, sorceress; in later use esp. a woman supposed to have dealings with the devil or evil spirits and to be able by their co-operation to perform supernatural acts. (oldest attested use in Old English) c1000 ÆLFRIC Saints' Lives vii. 209: "Animað...þa reðan wiccan, Seo þe ðus awent þurh wiccecræft ...

See also:

Wicca, Wicca - Definition, Wicca - History of Wicca, Wicca - Origins, Wicca - Later developments, Wicca - Beliefs and practices, Wicca - Morality, Wicca - Discrimination and persecution of Wiccans, Wicca - United States, Wicca - Wiccan traditions, Wicca - Notes, Wicca - Bibliographical and Encyclopedic Sources, Wicca - Academic Studies

Read more here: » Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Wicca - Notes

Gerald Gardner is credited with re-introducing the word 'Wicca' into the English language, although he himself used the spelling 'Wica' in his published work of 1954. The spelling 'Wicca' is now used almost exclusively, (Seax-Wica being the only major use of the four-letter spelling). In Old English, wicca meant "A wizard, soothsayer, sorcerer, magician" (Bosworth, 1898 [1]). Its modern English descendant is the word witch, now used almost exclusively to describe women sorcerors, but formerly used for both sexes. Other ( ...

See also:

Wicca, Wicca - Definition, Wicca - History of Wicca, Wicca - Origins, Wicca - Later developments, Wicca - Beliefs and practices, Wicca - Morality, Wicca - Discrimination and persecution of Wiccans, Wicca - United States, Wicca - Wiccan traditions, Wicca - Notes

Read more here: » Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Wicca - Definition

Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, the apparent religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure. Among Celtic peoples in close contact with Rome, such as the Gauls and Celtiberians, their mythology did not survive the Roman empire, their subsequent conversion to Christianity, and the loss of their Celtic languages. Ironically it is through contemporary Roman and Christian sources that what we do know of their belie ...

Including:

• Celtic mythology - Historical sources
• Celtic mythology - Julius Caesar’s comments on Celtic Religion and their significance
• Celtic mythology - Branches of Celtic mythology
• Celtic mythology - Celtic deities
• Celtic mythology - The gods of the ancient Celts
• Celtic mythology - The gods of Ireland
• Celtic mythology - The gods of Wales
• Celtic mythology - The Dagda
• Celtic mythology - The Morrígan
• Celtic mythology - Belenus
• Celtic mythology - Lúgh/Lug
• Celtic mythology - Other gods
• Celtic mythology - Temples
• Celtic mythology - Celtic worship
• Celtic mythology - The druids
• Celtic mythology - Significance of Prophecy in Druidic Ritual
• Celtic mythology - Modern remnants
• Celtic mythology - Druidism?

Read more here: » Celtic mythology: Encyclopedia - Celtic mythology

In some cultures, holly represents masculinity while ivy represent femininity, as the two plants were often found together in the wild. By combining the attributes of holly and ivy in their decorations the belief was that evil spirits could be warded off. Beyond its association with holly, ivy maintains its significance thanks to the Greek myth of Cissos, a dancing girl whose tireless performance during a feast left her dead at the feet of Dionysus. Cissos was granted immortality by being transformed into the vine plant. The Romans knew Dionysus as Bacchus, and ivy was popularly worn as a garland during their Bacchanals ...

See also:

Jack in the green, Jack in the green - Observations

Read more here: » Jack in the green: Encyclopedia II - Jack in the green - Observations

The Wiccan Rede is a saying that sums up the ethics of the neo-Pagan religion Wicca. The most common form of the rede is An it harm none, do what ye will. "Rede" is a word from Middle English meaning "advice" or "counsel". "An" is an archaic contraction of the word "and", meaning "if", as in the Shakespearian "an it please thee". Other variants include: An it harm none, do as thou wilt Do what you will, so long as it harms none An it harm none, do what thou will Including:

• Wiccan Rede - History
• Wiccan Rede - Dating the poem
• Wiccan Rede - Interpretations of the Rede
• Wiccan Rede - Notes

Read more here: » Wiccan Rede: Encyclopedia - Wiccan Rede

Beltane: May 1

Beltane is the holiday that draws all Witches outside to celebrate the returning power of the Sun and the fecundity of the land.

Also See: Roodmas

(See also: Beltane , Magic, Shamanism, Paganism, Wicca)

Calton Hill is a hill in Edinburgh, Scotland, just to the east of the city centre. It includes several places of interest, such as the National Monument, Nelson's Monument, the Royal High School and the City Observatory. Calton Hill is the venue for a number of events throughout the year. The largest of these is the Beltane Fire Festival held on the 30 April each year, attended by over 10,000 people. ...

Read more here: » Calton Hill Edinburgh: Encyclopedia - Calton Hill Edinburgh