So Why Beltane?

Another year, another Beltane. Beltane began at 8.22 this evening here in the UK, and I lit my fire at about 8.30.

I was concerned that I might have to forego it this year, at least until tomorrow, because it came on to rain at eight o’clock and fires don’t light easily outdoors in the rain. But no, the rain stopped in time and the whole thing passed off well. And it struck me while tending the fire that even if my wishes had been thwarted, the rain would have been the greatest blessing Beltane could have bestowed.

Up until this past week the weather had been less than kind to the trees and growing things. We’d had several weeks of clear skies, bright sunshine, many freezing nights, and a generally cold airflow. The result was parched earth, young crops turning brown, and leaves shrivelling in the garden. And then we had a short period of rain followed by several showery days. Today we had the most showers of any day so far.

The result has been a marked change in the look and feel of garden and landscape alike. The new leaves appear to glow, and at the risk of sounding fanciful I have to say that everything rooted in the earth looks so much happier. And when I see the trees and growing things looking happier, I feel happier. While it might be overstating the case to say that I feel connected with nature, I certainly feel closer to it. But maybe the two things are actually the same, and that gives the clue as to why I have a fire at Beltane every year. It’s simply a matter of celebrating the richness and fecundity of nature and the cosmic forces which sustain life.

When people routinely and universally – at least in much of the world – celebrate Christmas, they’re celebrating the birth 2,000 years ago of a preacher about whom we know very little. Whatever Jesus actually said, whatever the root of his teaching really was (but which I suspect was misunderstood), and whatever the adherents of a religion founded in his name choose to believe, Jesus is a remote figure. Nature isn’t. Nature is what we’re all an individualised part of at this level of reality. Without it, we couldn’t be here. It seems to me, therefore, that Beltane is the best thing I could choose to celebrate.