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WHAT IS BELTANE?
Prior to the Iron Age, the Fire Festival of Beltane celebrated the birth of Summer and ensured the fertility of the land. This spoke of the Wheel of the Year turns our attention to our own connection to the cycles of Nature. Beltane is celebrated starting at sundown on April 31st until sundown on May 1st.
Beltane means bright fire and, as such, it is celebrated with the lighting of the Beltane bonfire or balefire. Fire was seen as a purifier and healer and would have been walked around and danced/jumped over by the members of the community. Farmers would also have driven their cattle between two fires to cleanse and protect them before being put out into the fields. In the old days, all hearth fires would be extinguished and a new neid fire lit which would have then been used to relight everyone’s hearths in their homes. A neid fire is one that is created by the friction of wood on wood. In this way the community was connected to each other by the sacred fire which was central to all.
NOTE: There is a also a Practical Magic Workshop for the Willow Moon.