Beltane, May first, is one of the Celtic cross calendar days. The cross quarter days are halfway between equinox and solstice and mark the beginning of a season. The two major cross calendar holidays are Samhain, October 31, the beginning of the year, and Beltane, May 1 the beginning of summer. The summer solstice, according to the Celtic calendar, is, literally midsummer and the winter solstice midwinter. The other two cross calendar holidays are Imbolc (Feb 1) and Lughnasa (August 1). The Irish playwright Brian Friel, who lived in our family’s hometown of Greencastle, County Donegal, Ireland wrote the Tony winning play “Dancing at Lughnasa,” set in Donegal. Myrel Streep starred in the movie version. One of the themes of the play is the struggle between pagan and Christian traditions in Ireland. It is a good theme because each of the cross cultural holidays have been appropriated by the Christian Church in Ireland (and some of them beyond). Samhain as Halloween and All Saints Day, Imbolc as Candlemass and St. Brigid’s Day, St. Walpurgis Night for Beltane, and the Lammas (Loaf Day, or the blessing of the first fruits) for Lughnasa. Each of the Cross Calendar days is a holiday in Ireland, celebrated on the Monday closest to the day.
Beltane is traditionally celebrated with bonfires; the smoke from Beltane bonfires brought protection so people bathed in the smoke and moved their livestock through it. It was also celebrated with flowers and dancing. Maypoles are part of the celebration in England and in Slovakia when we lived there. Our Unitarian fellowship will celebrate with a Maypole on Sunday. One year we celebrated Beltane in England when we unintentionally ran into a parade of trees marching down the street accompanied by English Morris dancers.
I thought the best way to celebrate Beltane was to visit “My Log,” A log that washed ashore, broken away from a log boom going to the Alaska Pulp Company mill, probably sometime in the ’70s. I have been photographing it regularly for more than a decade, documenting its decay which fosters new life.
