How to celebrate Beltane in 2024: welcoming in the warmer months
All around us, spring is giving way to summer: the sun is staying longer and lilacs are starting to bloom; we find ourselves outside more, noticing the bright green of the leaves and the candy colors of the flowers. And with this new turn in the season comes the time to think of how to celebrate Beltane this year.
Beltane is one of the eight sabbats celebrated during the wheel of the year. It falls in between the spring equinox and the summer equinox, occurring on May 1st each year, and is associated with fertility and the beginning of summer. It’s also known as May Day, and has been celebrated for centuries, starting back in Scotland and Ireland, with the earliest known mention being from old Irish literature in Gaelic Ireland.
Beltane started as a celebration of the return of the pastoral summer season. One of the earliest celebrations of Beltane involved druids lighting two fires and driving cattle between them to protect them from disease, but you’ll probably be more familiar with the may pole celebration, where participants dance around a maypole, twirling ribbons around it until the entire pole is covered in multicolored ribbons.
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Common symbolism of Beltane
Some common symbols of Beltane include:
- Colors: red, yellow, sky blue, green, pink
- Crystals: rose quartz, moonstone, aventurine, carnelian, emerald
- Foods: oat cakes, beef stew, fairy cakes, fresh butter, mead
- Herbs: chamomile, dandelion, yarrow, coltsfoot, nettle
- Plants: hyacinth, violet, birch, oak, rose
How to celebrate Beltane in 2024
1. Decorate your altar
One of the simplest things you can do to honor Beltane is to decorate your altar to fit the season. It’s also a good way to mark the change from one segment of the year to another. Some things you may want to decorate your altar with could be any flowers that are currently in bloom—along with their greenery—a cloth made of colors symbolizing the sabbat, candles of the same colors, a tiny maypole to honor the history of Beltane, and anything else that, to you, symbolizes fertility and love.
2. Beltane bonfire
One more traditional way of celebrating Beltane is to host or attend a bonfire, which symbolizes the beginning of Beltane, while also purifying and protecting those around it. If you live in a place where you can have a bonfire, I’d highly suggest taking advantage of it. If you don’t, you can do it on a much smaller scale with a candle (please be fire safe!).
3. Gather flowers
While not everything will be in bloom when Beltane comes around, some of the earlier spring flowers will be. Depending on the climate you live in, this might include hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, lilacs, peonies, bergamot, and hydrangeas, to name a few.
4. Floral wreaths and crowns
And with those flowers, you can make floral wreaths or crowns, or even just leave a few vases of flowers around your home. Regardless of what you decide to do, it’s always nice to have a little bit of spring indoors with you.
5. Host a feast
As with most sabbats in the wheel of the year, it’s common to celebrate by hosting a feast. Since Beltane falls in mid-spring, you could host your feast as an outdoor picnic or tea party. A menu of bannock, beef or vegetable stew, honey cakes, and spiced mead would be both appropriate and loved by anyone you share it with.
6. Sow seeds for your garden
If you live in the northern hemisphere like me, Beltane is the perfect time to sow some seeds in your garden. The risk of frost has passed, and now is the perfect time to get your garden started, especially with early crops, so you can start some of your harvesting in July.
7. Perform a self love or fertility spell
While I have reservations about telling anyone to do love spells (which we’ll talk about at a later date), I more than encourage people to try out self love spells. And, if you’re looking to expand your family, now is the perfect time to try a fertility spell. Just make sure you let the other person involved know what you’re doing.
Parting thoughts
I hope this gives you some ideas on how to celebrate Beltane this year. Let me know in the comments what you’re planning! I’d love to hear about it. I’ll personally be meeting up with a few witchy friends, and though I’m not quite sure what we’re doing yet, I know I sure am excited to celebrate with some lovely folk.
xoxo,
Catherine
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