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Beltane
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Beltane
Beltane (bèl´tân,
-ten) noun
1.An ancient Celtic
feast marked by the lighting of bonfires and the performance of various
rites of purification.
2.May 1, the day on which
this feast was held.
[Middle English, from Scottish Gaelic bealltainn.]
Walpurgis Night
Walpurgis Night (väl-p¢r´gîs
nÌt) noun
1.a. The eve of May Day,
observed in some European countries and in some Scandinavian communities
in the United States in celebration of spring and marked by music, singing,
and bonfires. b. The eve of Beltane, believed by medieval christians to
be the occasion of a witches' Sabbath.
2.An episode or a situation
having the quality of nightmarish wildness.
[Partial translation of German Walpurgisnacht : Walpurgis, Saint Walpurga (died 779) + Nacht, night.]
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In Celtic tradition, the beginning of May marked the start
of summer. Huge bonfires were lit on the hilltops, sometimes near a sacred
tree representing the gods of vegetation - a practice that gave rise to the
tradition of the maypole. Once the bonfires were blazing, the people danced
around them, singing and moving in a clockwise direction. Sometimes bonfire
were kindled in paris, and the merrymakers danced and drove their cattle between
them as a rite of purification. Beltane was suppressed by the Catholic
church, but pagan practices long continued to greet the month of May.
In England and elsewhere, young men and maidens would go a-Maying on the even
of May Day, spending the night in the greenwood and returning at dawn to dress
the village in boughs of greenery
and garlands of flowers - a custom that came to be called "bringing in the May."
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