Reflection: Beltane
At Beltane, quhen ilk bodie bownis
To Peblis to the Play,
To heir the singin and the soundis;
The solace, suth to say,
Be firth and forrest furth they found
Thay graythis tham full gay;
God wait that wald they do that stound,
For it was their feast day the day they celebrate May Day.
Peblis to the Play, The Maitland Manuscripts
Once the Vernal Equinox has passed, the light gathers strength day by day. This is the height of Spring in the Celtic year: the Earth tilts closer towards the sun, the mornings stretch earlier, the evenings linger later, and we begin the steady ascendance toward Summer.
Beltane, on 1 May, marks the midpoint between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. It is a festival of light, fire and fertility: not only of the body but of creativity, imagination and spirit. The name comes from the Gaelic for “the fires of Bel”, referring to a Celtic god, and historically it signalled the beginning of the farming calendar, a moment filled with hope, energy and communal celebration.
Fire is central to Beltane lore. Evening bonfires were lit for protection, purification and good fortune, and people would leap across the flames for luck in the year ahead. In modern times the most famous celebration takes place here in Edinburgh on 30 April, when fire dancers gather on Calton Hill and the flames burn until dawn. At St Andrews, where I studied, students greet May Day by running into the icy North Sea at sunrise: an experience that is both freezing and wildly exhilarating.
Across Europe, this ancient Spring festival appears in many forms, often involving dancing, singing and feasts to welcome the season’s turning. Beltane is a reminder to honour joy, light and the creative spark: to gather together, to welcome warmth back into our days and to celebrate the world reawakening.
