Beautiful Edinburgh – flowers are blooming, the cherry blossoms are all shades of vibrant pink and the birds and bees are buzzing.  Beltane is calling, summer is beckoning.  One of the four Celtic cross-quarter festivals, Beltane, festival of fertility, fire and light, is deeply rooted in the agricultural cycles of survival, and is arguably the most anticipated after a long, dark winter. 

For our Celtic ancestors, the winds were as bitter as food was scarce, and so the arrival of Beltane was a time of great joy, ushering in a new period of growth and greenery, symbolised by the Green Man.  The Green Man symbolises the otherworldly connection between humans and nature, he is the energy of chaos and random chance, the spirit that creates diversity and strength.  The May Queen is a symbol of love, ethereal beauty and abundance.  Adorned in flowers, she represents the glory of nature and the ceaseless cycles that bring constant change.  The Green Man compels a dandelion to grow out of a crack in the pavement, no matter its chances.  The May Queen elicits the dandelion to reach for the sun and withstand the storms.  Together their symbiotic flow of energies creates life, forever evolving, adapting and thriving.

Beltane – meaning ‘bel’ bright and ‘tene’ fire – is a rite of fertility, a time to celebrate verdant fields, growing crops, and the bringing forth of new life.  The Celts believed that lighting bonfires invoked the warmth and power of the sun, bringing protection, fertility and purification to people and livestock. 

Celebrate renewal, growth and the coming of summer with our stunning Green Man jewellery

Is May Day the same as Beltane?

May Day is known as a workers’ day in various countries, but in Scotland and Northern Europe, May Day has always represented the start of Summer.  May Day, known as Beltane in Scotland and Ireland, also has strong links to the Green Man and the May Queen.

Maypoles are often associated with the Green Man and the May Queen.  Decorated with greenery and flowers, Maypoles are well known across Europe and to our Celtic Cornish cousins.  The dance of the Maypole is rooted in ancient ceremonial dances around living trees, as part of spring fertility rites.  The weaving of garlands around the Maypole, represents the intertwining of communities, sharing in the bounties of life.

Adorn yourself with flower jewellery and dance in the sun like the May Queen….

Does Edinburgh celebrate Beltane?

We love Beltane!  Our Nanas always told us to wash our faces in the morning dew on Arthur’s Seat, before the sun rises on the first day of May.  It is said to give you a great complexion and good fortune – try it and see!  What luck that this 1^st of May is a full moon, the Flower Moon no less – the May Queen Moon?

Edinburgh also hosts one of Europe’s biggest fire festivals on our iconic Calton Hill, thanks to the resurgence of the Beltane Fire Festival celebrations held on the 30th of April.  Now in its 38th year, Beltane is a beautiful community, volunteer-run spectacle of fire, drums and ethereal beings representing the energies and forces of nature merging to create life.  Fertility is peaking, sexual energy is rife, and the anticipation up the hill can cut with a knife.  The drums play out the heartbeat of the earth, waking up at last to her latent potential. 

Happy Beltane!

“On Beltane night we raise a toast …to Earth, our Mother and Fire, our Host”

PIC: Gordon Veitch for Beltane Fire Society