It is the season of Beltaine; one of the traditional Gaelic Fire Festivals of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Our ancestors (if we have from these lands) would often mark this as the first day of Summer, this would be the time when the cattle would be pushed out to the pastures, rituals would be performed to protect crops, livestock and hearth and home – of course here in Australia we are starting our harvest season so for us, Beltane means harvest. It is during this time of year when bees will swarm, summer fruits are growing, the gardens are awash with colour from flowers and everything is coming into it’s own. Depending on where you reside in this land of ours, Beltaine is also the beginning of the dry season, bushfire season and when we have to start watching out for snakes. Before long the land will start turning various shades of yellow and brown where I live and we will see very little green before we move into the harsher heat of summer.
Beltaine also marks the end of market season for us for the year; although this year we are doing Queen of Wands Copper Coast in December (16/17) because it’s closer to us than the normal QoW markets which are generally in our state’s capital city. November 4/5 we are doing the SA Viking Festival in Victor Harbour which has, in years previous, been the final market of the year for us. We may do a couple of local markets leading up to Christmas in our town but other than that, Viking Festival and QoW Copper Coast will be the last time to see us out and about this year so if you’re interested, please do come along!
There is no altar this Sabbat, if you have read my previous post, you will know that at the moment I am not actively working with or creating altars and probably won’t be for a little while – it’s not something that I have the capacity for at the moment however I do hold hope that one day I will get back there.
I hope you all have a wonderful Beltaine!!
Comments
Post a Comment