Beltane: Fertility, Fire, and Faith

Rev. Stephanie C. Barnett

Staff Chaplain St. Luke’s Hospital Allentown Campus

Associated Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Lehigh Valley

April 29, 2007

This is a wonderful time of year, the days are starting to get warmer and longer. Daffodils have poked their heads up through the earth and burst into full bloom and the robins have returned to eat anything and everything that they can catch. It is a time between the bitter coldness of winter and the brutal heat of summer. It is a time to celebrate life.

Our modern celebratory traditions for this time of year trace their roots back to the early festivals of the Hellenistic period and to Greco-Roman religion. These religions in turn trace much of their history to the pre-Roman inhabitants of Roman territories. These were celebrations of nature and of fertility; it was a time to celebrate the blooming of the earth which to the ancient people meant that they would probably survive for another year. The ancient Roman festival of Floralia culminated on May 1 with offerings of flowers to the Roman goddesses Flora and Maia. Wreathes were placed on top of large poles which were further adorned with floral garlands and were paraded throughout the cities in honor of the goddesses.

This is, of course, the tradition of the Maypole; the most prominent and long-lasting tradition of the ancient celebrations. Covered in garland and ribbons it is still a favorite of children and adults alike. The garland which covers the Maypole is an interwoven string of flowers, symbolizing not only the interconnection between male and female but also animal, and plant. It is an ancient symbol of the interdependent web of all existence. To further demonstrate this interconnection and interdependence; dances were performed around the maypole by which lengths of ribbon held by the dancers were interwoven to create a sort of cocoon around the Maypole itself.

In the Celtic lands to the North of the Roman territories, the spring celebration was called Beltane which means bright fire and refers to the large bonfires lit by the Celts in celebration of the return of life that comes with spring and summer. In fact in Celtic tradition Beltane marks the beginning of the summer half of the year while Samhain, on October 31 marks the winter half of the year. Traditionally on May Eve, all of the fires were extinguished in Celtic communities. The next day trenches were dug and filled with wood which was then lit to create giant bonfires, at least two per community were necessary. The fire was lit using a somewhat lengthy and difficult process of essentially rubbing two pieces of oak together and then using these sparks to ignite agaric, a highly combustible material gathered from old birch trees. This process, when done properly, appeared to create a fire from nothing, it was as if by magic.

Once the fires were going cattle were rounded up and driven between the two bonfires two ritually cleanse them ensuring both their safety and their fertility. It is important to mention that the two bonfires were sufficiently far apart as to prevent the cattle from becoming dinner. These bonfires celebrated the sun and the warmth and life-giving energy that it provided. It is doubtful that the ancients understood the complexities of photosynthesis but as keen students of the world around them the ancients did know that as the days grew longer their crops grew larger. To assist in the growth of their crops the ancients scattered the ashes from the huge bonfires over their fields to assure a bountiful harvest in the fall. In some of the Celtic regions it was also a custom for people to put some of the ashes in their shoes to guard against misfortune.

After the days celebrations each family took home with them some of the bonfire either by lantern or torch to rekindle their previously extinguished fires at home. In this way the central fire of each community spread outward to all of its inhabitants further symbolizing the interdependent bond that we all have with each other.

So how do we bring the ancient traditions and ideals of Beltane into our modern Unitarian Universalist lives? The answer is relatively simple. Humans have not really changed that much in the last few thousand years. We still fight wars and long for peace. We still seek to find that which is divine and larger than ourselves be it God, Goddess, unnamed holy entity, quantum physics, or the combining of human souls into a peaceful and environmentally sustainable community. We all seek to raise children, either our own biological or adopted children or the collective children of our community. We all seek for a tomorrow that is better, brighter, and more alive than today.

And so we return to that simple answer. Our ancestors gathered together in dance and prayer for fertility, fertility for themselves, their crops, and their livestock. We gather together for fertility of the mind. We come together to share wisdom and life experiences through the breakfast forum, RE classes, the readings and hymns and if I may be so bold, even the sermon may have an interesting tidbit or two. And after the service we all move to the community room for those two most sacred of Unitarian Universalist traditions – coffee and conversation.

Our ancestors gathered together to perform certain rites to ensure the fertility of their community, to ensure that year after year there will be children to raise and a place to raise them. The same is true for us, we gather together in the hope of ensuring among other things that there will be new members for this congregation and that the building and resources of this congregation will be maintained. The details may have changed but the reason for gathering has not.

Our ancestors gathered together to light fires to reawaken the earth. We gather together to light a chalice and to seek our own internal fires, to find and nurture our own individual passions. We come together to share our passions with each other, to pass this most magical of flames from one person to the next. For some it is a passion for music, for others it is a passion for preparing and serving food. For still others it is a passion for knowledge or for social justice. These passions are as much a gift from our ancestors as the gift of fire itself. Our symbol of the flaming chalice combines the symbol of knowledge and nourishment found in the chalice with that of the flame. Had our ancestors not learned to harness fire for themselves they would not have been able to evolve into the societies that we have today on Earth. Of course, fire like all gifts is a double-edged sword; for the very thing that allowed our ancestors to eat warm food and survive the cold of Northern winters also allowed for the explosions of gun powder which has led to modern warfare… but that my friends, is another sermon.

Our ancestors gathered together to light a common fire, a common symbol of their hopes and dreams for a new beginning, for knowledge, and for good fortune. Do we not do the same each Sunday when we light the chalice and do we not do the same when we share our internal fires, our own personal internal passions with each other?

And finally, our ancestors gathered together to celebrate their faith. We gather together to celebrate our faith. They gathered to perform certain rites to ensure their survival, to educate their young in their time honored traditions, and to spend time together as a community. We gather together to perform certain rites such as lighting the chalice and singing hymns to ensure that these traditions continue, we educate our young in not only UU history but in the religious history of humanity and seek to instill in our youth a questioning mind, a just heart, and a loving spirit. And most importantly just as our ancestors did, we gather together as a community. The most important aspect of any religion, of any belief system, is that it brings people together. We are all part of an interdependent web, a web of our own choosing. We come together because at our core, we truly like the company of other humans.

We want to share a piece of ourselves with others who will do likewise. It is this sharing, this communion of the spirit, which makes our UU community the unique and special place that it is. It is not a perfect place, but it is a place of fertile minds, fiery hearts, and most importantly of faithful spirits.

Blessed be and Amen.