Beltane Customs and Practices

Bringing in the May In old England, the young people went out into the woods on May Day Eve and stayed all night, returning in the morning, laden with flowers and green branches. The Puritan writer, Philip Stubbes, has an interesting way of explaining the nature of the sacred rites which took place in the … Continue reading Beltane Customs and Practices

Beltane

The word Beltane corresponds to the modern Irish Gaelic word Bealtaine, the name of the month of May, and to the Scottish Gaelic word Bealtuinn meaning May Day.Other names For the Day and the celebrations are:May 1: Rudemas/Roodmas, Rood Day (the Christian term for Rood Day), St. Walburga's Day; Beltane, May Day, Cetsamhain (opposite Samhain), … Continue reading Beltane

Spring Equinox/Ostara

“Never yet was a springtime, when the buds forgot to bloom.” —Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

Spring Equinox/Ostara Celebrations Now

Spring Equinox/Ostara How to Celebrate Now The Spring Equinox is a time of new beginnings, of action, of planting seeds for future grains, and of tending gardens. Spring is a time of the Earth's renewal, a rousing of nature after the cold sleep of winter. Eggs and Egg Baskets, coloring eggs, bird watching, egg hunts, … Continue reading Spring Equinox/Ostara Celebrations Now

Spring Equinox Celebrations

Spring Equinox Celebrations in the past For early Pagans in the Germanic countries, this was a time to celebrate planting and the new crop season. Typically, the Celtic peoples did not celebrate Ostara as a holiday, although they were in tune with the changing of the seasons. Persian kings known as the Achaemenians celebrated the … Continue reading Spring Equinox Celebrations