Romanticize 26: Welcome, Beltane!
Some simple May 1st rituals and observances.
Beltane, or Mayday, is a beloved Celtic festival that honors spring at its nexus and ushers in the summer season. It’s generally observed from sunset on April 30 to sunset on May 1, and it’s a time to mark the longer, lighter days and delight in the earth bursting with flowers that will become fruits (which is why fertility is also a major Beltane correspondence).
In Ireland, Beltane is a big deal—townspeople decorate and dance around maypoles and children tie ribbons to bushes. Folks wear flower crowns and dress in all white (if you’ve seen Midsommar, it’s not exactly far off…minus the ritual sacrifice). Wildflowers are gathered and hung in bundles over doorways to usher in fertility and abundance for the coming season. Men sleep out in the fields with their livestock to protect against evil fairies and local witches wanting to perform piseogs (charms or spells) at a time when the veil is thinned. Women and girls wake up at sunrise on May 1 to wash their faces in the morning dew, believing it to be a beautifying and healing elixir. And fires are lit on the evening of April 30 and left burning until sunset on May 1 to purify, cleanse, and protect those within the households.
For this week’s Romanticize, I’m detailing a few fun and easy ways to capture that same spirit for your Beltane celebrations.
The Romanticize
Partake in a Beltane ritual or observance.
The Advice
Take a page from the Irish by bringing some of the outside in: gather wildflowers and arrange them in vases throughout your home. Create bundles of flowers to hang over your exterior doors. In place of a fire, burn a candle (just don’t leave it unsupervised). And tie ribbons to trees and shrubs around your home.
Make a flower crown using a base of string or wire with (responsibly, legally) gathered blooms twisted on top. There are tons of online tutorials to follow, though I like to simply wrap the stems around each other and tape them together (I tend toward the lazy end of any craft project). Here’s a reel I made a few years ago detailing how to create one.
Spending time in nature is always a great way to observe the shifting seasons—consider packing a picnic and heading to a local park (or just your backyard!) or sitting in the sun with a book.
The Inspiration
Our lilac bushes (both purple and white) are in full bloom, so I took this opportunity to gather them into gorgeous, fragrant bundles to be placed throughout my cottage.
The apple and cherry blossoms are bursting around the farm, so I tied a few of the trees with pretty ribbons and watched fat, happy bees buzz around them as the branches swayed in the breeze.
I also picked some violets from the yard and placed them on my breakfast chia pudding—a beautiful way to celebrate the season’s bounty while sitting beside the heady perfumed scent of a vase of lilacs. I think I might try to wake up at dawn on May 1 to wash my face in the dew—I’m half Irish, after all, and it just feels right. My alarm is set!
I’d love to know the results of your Romanticize—feel free to share your experience in the comments, or tag me on Instagram. Until next Wednesday, fellow romantics!