For the May Day is the great day,
Sung along the old straight track.
And those who ancient lines did ley
Will heed this song that calls them back.
-- Ian Anderson
Back in the day Beltain was celebrated with giant bonfires and 'greenwood marriages' of young men and women who spent the entire night in the forest, staying out to greet the May sunrise, and bringing back boughs of flowers and garlands to decorate the village the next morning, according to this site. One could assume that handfasted or married couples had their own May Day celebrations after the fires and through the night at home as well.
The significance of this Pagan holiday is to welcome the coming summer and to remind the Earth that it is time to wake up and be fertile, to grow and to be productive. It is essentially, to ensure good fertility among crops and animals for this growing season.
What about the Crone?
What does she do with her withered, dry old womb? No babe will be at her sunken breast. No man's hand upon her wrinkled thigh. Are there other forms of fertility to be celebrated when the face is not so fair as to attract a man for a greenwood marriage and the bed at home has had only one pillow for several years now?
What more fertile ground can there be than that tilled by experienced plows? What more promising seeds can be sewn than those thrown from the hand that has seen many seasons and knows the best times to do the right things? Who can better tend the flock than she who has seen and persevered through all kinds of illness and injury? Who better to guard the fields and flocks from marauders than the woman who has been torn by all forms of wolf?Perhaps the role of a Crone in the Beltain celebrations is more important than has been recognized in tradition. The Crone who embraces her rich experiences and chooses to share those with the fair young maidens can help them to become wise, fair, young maidens and to make good choices for their fertility of mind, body and soul.
So, this Beltain I will not lament my ugly face and aging body. I will celebrate the rites of Beltain in some way as a wise crone, rather than a wickedly bitter crone.
It is said that, to some, Beltain signifies the beginning of the fighting season as well as the time when legendary poet Taliesin is said to manifest. For some it is a time of sexual fertility, for others it heralds the ripening of a time for plunder, conquering and the spoils of war to the strongest of them. It can be a time for growing the food of stories yet to come.
The warrior, as a vigilant guard, was as necessary to guarantee a good harvest as the tillers of Earth and sewers of seeds. The wise woman who tends to the ills of the flock or herds and to the blights on the fields is also as needed to ensure a good harvest to all.
While I am not suggesting or intending to celebrate and embrace the ways of war, I am thinking this is a good time to become more active in the pursuit of victory. This could be victory over an inner daemon, an opponent in one's workplace, some social injustice or some form of illness. In any case, blood shed in war can be more figurative and less literal and still make for a good story. I guess what I'm saying is that, since I have been forced into Cronehood a bit early and it is no longer an option for me to make love, I'll make like a warrior and be a vigilant guard for the fertile fields and I'll make like a healer and tend to the fields and flocks, then I'll make like the poet and write about it for maidens to come.
Fertility means different things to different people. We all have a part to play and there are many alternatives.
Anonymous, at
Fri May 05, 09:31:00 p.m.
