measi's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blessed Beltane The Wheel of the Year turns round and round, pausing only for a moment to mark the changing seasons... Beltane. May Day. Roodmas. Whatever you call it, it's a cheery day that celebrates all things full of life, love, and well... sex. :) Beltane is a celebration of fertility, both of the earth and of procreation. Other than Halloween, Beltane tends to be the Pagan Sabbat that concerns the fundamentalist wing the most. I mean... a religious ritual that involves, and in some ways, glorifies sex? The Horror! The thing is that the people who are horrified by Pagan faith are always going to be horrified by Pagan faith. These people don't care. They don't want to be educated on what Pagans believe or practice, even from a purely anthropological angle. Paganism to them is bad. And a religious ritual involving sex, either symbolically or in actuality, drives fear into them because it is such an alien thing. The fact that Beltane gets such a strong reaction should come as no surprise. Just as Samhain (aka Halloween, to those non-Pagan) gets a horrendous "Satanic" reaction from the rabid fundies, it only makes sense that its counterpart on the other half of the year, Beltane, would draw a similar reaction. And along those lines, Imbolc (Candlemas) and Lughnasadh (Lammas), which are directly across from each other, cutting the time between Samhain and Beltane in half, rarely get any reaction or attention. They're just kinda ignored. It's all part of balance, you see. Physics has its way with religious fervor, too. For each action, there is a positive or negative reaction. [bar] I first celebrated Beltane as May Day when I was in grade school. Our art projects for the week were to create construction paper baskets with flowers in them to bring home for the fridge. We were taught that one of the customs of May Day was to leave a small bouquet of flowers on the doorstep of someone we knew was lonely, ring the doorbell, and hide, allowing the person to find the anonymous present and know that they were loved. My parents generally went out to the nurseries on May Day to buy all of the flowers for our window boxes and backyard planters. It was still a bit too risky to plant them on May Day with the cold nights, but the flats of plants filling the greenhouse was an annual tradition that celebrated the fertility of spring. Once I got to college and began practicing openly as a Wiccan, I began solitary celebrations of the Sabbats. And Beltane, because of the blatant sexual under and overtones, made me a bit squeamish because of my conservative upbringing and personal shyness when it came to sex as a whole. Now the holiday is no big deal to me for the symbolism. Sex is a natural act. I know damned well what that maypole stands for. And the wreath at the top. Do I still giggle about Beltane and all of its symbolism? Sure. But that's part of the fun of the holiday. Beltane is a reminder of the joy of living. Laughter and fun is encouraged. Sex is a pleasurable act. Why not have some fun and joke about it? So go out there with your special someone and celebrate the joys of the Happy Horny Heathen Holiday. :) Blessed Beltane all! 10:15 a.m. - 1 May 2002 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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