I sleep so sound all night, mother, that I shall never wake,
If you do not call me loud when the day begins to break:
But I must gather knots of flower, and buds and garlands gay,
For I’m to be the Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be the Queen o’ the May.
– From “The May Queen” by Alfred Lord Tennyson
A blessed Beltaine to all!
Also known as May Day (or the day after Walpurgis Night), May 1 is the day that the Flower Bride is crowned with a garland of spring flowers and takes part in the Sacred Marriage to celebrate this fertile season. Or as Guinevere sings in the musical Camelot:
It’s May! It’s May!
The month of ‘yes you may’
An illustration of a May Queen from William Hone’s “Hone’s Everyday Book” published in 1826.
And this is fitting for in the Arthurian legends the Flower Bride is Guinevere, though she is usually abducted on May 1 and must be rescued. However, in Celtic lore, there are many ladies or goddesses, such as Creiddyled and Bloudewedd, who fit this role.
Though Beltaine celebrates fertility, which of course requires both sexes, this day does seem to give a lot of attention to women. The Roman Catholic church even chose May to be Mary’s month, and many of their faithful celebrate May Day as a celebration of the mother of Jesus.
Though I’m more interested in Flower Brides of Celtic myth, a statue of Mary at the local Catholic Church, Our Lady of Lourdes, fascinates me. Different than most art that shows the demure mother with her head bowed and covered, “Our Lady of Pittsburg” by artist Linda Dabeau shows a Mary that is strong and forward looking – she looks as much like a goddess here as do many statues of Diana or Aphrodite. In fact, a good friend and I have often joked that we should go in the wee hours of Beltaine and dress the Mary statue with flower garlands. As yet, we haven’t done it – but you never know what the future holds!
A statue of Mary in southeast Kansas
Those interested in more Celtic history and British folk traditions regarding this time can check out sources such as Alexei Kondratiev’s excellent The Apple Branch and Mike Nichols’ The Witches’ Sabbats as well as web sites such as Waverly Fitzgerald’s The School of the Seasons or today’s post on The Wild Hunt blog.
But here I’d like to focus on the beauty and charm of the Beltaine season. Here are some things I’ve enjoyed over the years:
- As a child, learning about May Day flower baskets in school and then making some to give to the neighbors.
- The scent of honeysuckle and peonies.
- Several years ago, being part of a group of adults leading a group of children in dancing the May pole when only one adult actually knew how to do it. It was good tangled fun and I can’t wait to try it again!
- Waking early on a May morning to walk barefoot in the dew.
- Just this past weekend, seeing that someone had made a garland of old fashioned roses for my great niece on her seventh birthday. Some classics never go out of style!
So what is your favorite part of the Beltaine season? Or the month of May?
Until next time, bright blessings!
Thistle
© 2012 PJ Graham
Happy Beltane! Great minds think alike – I just did a post on Beltane this morning (okay, I wrote it last night) and I used the same song from Camelot, just a different verse.
That statue is gorgeous! It’s a Catholic tradition to crown statues of Mary with flowers in May, so I highly doubt if anyone would mind you bedecking her with flowers, or even suspect non-Catholic origins (not that I’m encouraging anything that would be illegal). I’ve held private May Crowning ceremonies since I was in kindergarten and see a beautiful symmetry between the two religions in that act. You should see the crown and floor length lace veil they put on the statue at the Carmelite monastery by my house. I don’t mean to offend anyone by saying this, but in the month of May, Mary looks 100% goddess.
The Apple Branch is a great source. I use it all the time in my posts. I haven’t heard of the other book you mentioned, so I’m going to have to check it out.
I’ve never danced around a May pole, but I want to. Hmmm…I think that’s going on my Bucket List!
I just saw your post – great stuff and, yes, we do seem to be on the same page, both of us even quoted the same song. (But you gotta love that fun number from Camelot, right?) I just subscribed, and look forward to your posts.
The Witches’ Sabbats is a good, basic book on the 8 holy days. It doesn’t have the deep Celtic research of The Apple Branch, but looks at the seasons as they have come down to use complete with the influences of the cultures that came into the Isles.
I highly recommend a May pole whenever you get the chance – it’s a lot of fun!
Beltane is my favourite time of the year after Samhain, and that’s not only because my birthday is somewhere around 😀 Anyway, wish you a happy belated Beltane!
And to you, Evil Nymph. And happy birthday! My birthday is this month as well, and I always wondered if that made me like May a wee bit more.
Its good to see a pagan/witch who can incorporate Mary into their practice, as she is an aspect of the Goddess. In my coven we used the old Catholic names for Sabats and spring equinox was known as Lady Day (March 25th) as it is all about the return of the Goddess Persephone from the underworld to the growing world of nature in all her flowered glory. I was raised Protestant not Catholic and that’s probably good otherwise my devotion to Mary might have substituted for my becoming a goddess worshiping witch, lol. I was born on Feb 11th which is the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes so i feel close to her and even have a small “Christian” altar with Jesus and Mary in various forms upon it. I have no problem with the teachings of Jesus until Paul and the “fathers of the church” turned it into some cult of political power.
Thank you. I was raised Baptist, but currently live in a very Catholic area and find some aspects of it fascinating. Of the Catholic figures, I would say Saints Francis and Brigit are of more interest to me than Mary, but she’s certainly a powerful figure in her own right.
Sometimes I see or hear something that sounds absolutely magical even though it’s connected to a Catholic church. I saw the Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Atlantic CIty once and could hardly take my eyes off of it.
I’ve heard more and more of covens/groups that eschew the Pagan wheel of the year names and exact dates for the religious and folk celebrations.
Yea i have no connection with the theology behind Mary, just the imagery as the white goddess. Down in Washington DC there is the National Shrine of the Virgin Mary and it has two floors and in every nitch is a form from around the world, obviously local goddesses assimilated into Mary. In the underground level is an altar in the center with this big sun disk on the ceiling. Down there is a cave built for Lourdes. Its all very beautiful.
I guess i use the names i was taught before “Wicca” became popular with the celtic names revival. I never got the exact dates concept, though i can see it for the solar holidays, and usually we just have rituals on the closest weekend that works for the most of us. Otherwise i work closest to the full moon, or the new moon for All Hallows. It all works and everyone’s path is their own based on what we feel in our hearts.