Also known as Roodmas or May Day, Beltane meaning fire of Bel has long been
celebrated with feasts and rituals. It is Belinos the sun god whose coronation
feast we celebrate. In old Celtic traditions it was a time of unabashed sexuality
and promiscuity where marriages of a year and a day could be undertaken.
Young people would spend the night in the woods "A-Maying," and then dance
around the phallic Maypole the next morning. Older married couples were
allowed to remove their wedding rings (and the restrictions they imply) for this
one night. May morning is a magickal time for wild water (dew, flowing
streams, and springs) which is collected and used to bathe in for beauty,
or to drink for health.
