May Festivals!

It's May 2nd - just one day late for this post!  

Yesterday, I posted about the Beltane festival being on the 1st May but there are/were lots of other festivals associated with May 1st. As such, I'm spacing them out, though I've also been making posts to Facebook groups with similar information.

Here are a few that are thought to be associated with ancient Celtic Festivals, the traditions of them passed down in various forms across the millennia in Western Europe, Scandinavia, India and perhaps even the Americas since the basis was, in some cases, to do with the equinoxes and other astronomical events.

May 1st Padstow, Cornwall

A very ancient festival had been taking place on May 1st in the town of Padstow (Cornwall, England), till the Covid 19 pandemic struck in 2020, when it had to be cancelled. And regrettably, the festival has had to be cancelled for yet another time, this year of 2021.

Till 2019, the festival began at midnight heralding in the first of May. People gathered outside a local pub to sing the special ‘Night’ song. One can only imagine it was pretty merry and folks were not ready to go to bed just yet.

However, in the morning when local folks were all up and about, the town would be bedecked in greenery and flowers laid at the foot of the central maypole.

Two ’obby ‘osses ( The ‘Old’ and the ‘Blue ribbon’) would then appear from different directions of the town wearing a very-creative stylised head of a horse and curtained body costume. The two ‘obby ‘oss parades wended their way around the streets, flanked by their masked ‘acolytes’ named the ‘Teasers’. The Teasers wore a black frame like cloak, their job being to snare young maidens under the cloaks- presumably for a snatched kiss?

After a fun day around the town, singing the ‘Day’ song the culmination was a meet-up around the Maypole in the evening. The poor ‘osses then listened to the ‘song of death’ and went away to their respective stables till being resurrected the following year.

The origins of this ancient pagan ritual have been lost in the midst of time.

More about the ’obby ‘oss festival here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27Obby_%27Oss_festival

The video above was the 2017 festival but sadly, it's easy to see why tthe festival had to be cancelled in both 2020 and 2021, the crowds being so tightly packed around the Maypole in Padstow. I truly hope it can be restarted as soon as possible. 

May 1st Maypole Dancing

Maypole dancing has been a feature for centuries (probably millennia)  in many countries, in Europe, in India and perhaps even in the Americas.

I think the kids at this school are having a lot of fun! 

A tall straight trunk was hewn from the forest and erected in a prominent place accessible to the locals. Ribbons were attached to the top, ready for dancers to weave their complex dance patterns beneath. It’s believed that the dances were associated with ancient spring fertility rites, the most ancient of the ceremonies danced around a live tree. Some of these maypoles were left in situ for the next years an only replaced in the village when it became necessary.

It’s also thought by some experts on Ancient Rome that there may have been a similar festival there. It may have originated as part of the Floralia festival which was celebrated on the 28^th April. The tree trunk was stripped of its branches and bedecked with ivy and clinging vines. Another school of thought has it that the stripped poles were hung with violets in honour of Attis and Cybele.

During the Puritan era hundreds of village maypoles were torn down throughout England and Wales. However, the attempt to wipe away the ancient pagan tree worship was in vain since the tradition resurfaced again when it was safe to do so. I’m sure that although the shared bonfire of the early Celtic tradition on May Day might have been abandoned for a while, the sneaking off of couples into the woods or the haystacks for a night of lovemaking probably continued in secret!

[Now, I wonder why that reminds me of a scene in The Beltane Choice?]

This image from a festival in the Basque country
 shows howcomplex the dancing can be. 

Both images from Wikimedia Commons. 

Till the next addition to May Festivals, Stay safe and happy reading! 

Slàinte! 

Beltane Greetings!

Happy Beltane greetings to all!

Beltane Fire Ceremony- Wikimedia Commons 

You will read other spellings of this ancient Celtic festival which marked the end of spring and the official beginning of the summer. (see other posts about Beltane on this blog)

Beltane literally means shining/bright fire and for the ancient Celtic tribes of Britain, the rituals of Beltane appear to have heralded a time of optimism and hope that the coming seasons would be fruitful for the land, the animals and the people. Abundant crops and productive animals were crucial to survival, living off the land the way of life as most Celtic tribes were farmers, and many of them subsistence farmers. The rituals of the festival were therefore designed to encourage successful growth for their animals and crops and to rid them of potentially deadly diseases. The blackness of winter is banished, the warmth from the bonfire flames emulating what is to come from the summer sunshine.

It also had a significance for the fertility of the tribes, a purification and dedication to renewal and rebirth. Celtic tribes appear to have marked the passage of time in nights rather than days and Beltane begins on the eve of the 1st of May which is approximately half way between the Vernal equinox and the Summer Solstice. Stargazers like to seek out the group of stars named The Pleiades when it rises just before dawn (sunrise) at Beltane.

In my novel The Beltane Choice, there is a Beltane scene where my Garrigill Clan pay homage to the sun god, Bel, to bless and protect the tribe. Nara of the Selgovae is at first a very unhappy participant at this ceremony, since the plans of Lorcan of the Brigantes has gone awry. The reader will need to read the result in the novel since I give no spoilers here!

Beltane traditions have come down to us in different forms. Like a Yule festival tradition, some have claimed that on Beltane eve the household fires were extinguished and they were relit from the Beltane bonfires-physically and not symbolically in ancient times. And like the festival of Samhain (now Halloween), Beltane was also a time when the veils between the worlds of the living and the dead are at their thinnest. This 'window of a few hours' allowed the spirits to intermingle with the living.

The Celts are said to have been very superstitious people and a rowan tree was planted near the threshold of the roundhouses/ houses for protection against malignant wandering spirits. To this day many Scottish people will not cut down a rowan tree and should their rowan tree die, they will plant another in its stead. I have a very old rowan on the drive near my house that isn't at it's best but I will never cut it down! 

During the coming month of May, look out for more short posts on other May festivals that were celebrated by the Celts, and by the Ancient Romans.  In addition, I'll be posting an extract from my time travel novel The Taexali Game which also features a Beltane Scene, though the purpose of writing about the Beltane festival in The Taexali Game is quite different from in The Beltane Choice. 

p.s. The Beltane Choice is the Book of the Month for May 2021 at Ocelot Press and will be 99p for the whole month, and the other four books of the series will be reduced to £1.99. You can buy them HERE 

Enjoy your reading... and Beltane!

Slàinte!

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beltane_2019_Edinburgh_Calton_Hill.jpg

The Beltane Choice is Book of the Month at Ocelot Press!

Happy Beltane!

I'm delighted to announce that The Beltane Choice is Book of the Month for May 2021 at Ocelot Press. 

In honour of this wonderful situation the eBook price of The Beltane Choice will be #99p at Amazon for the whole month of May! (equivalent prices on the other Amazon sites worldwide) 

As a further bonus, the eBook prices of the other four books in the series will be reduced to £1.99 across Amazon. (equivalent prices)

Should you prefer to read a paperback version, you can buy them from Amazon, or order them from other internet sites and bookstores.

Join us at the Ocelot Press Readers page on Facebook and there you'll see the ways you can receive additional May gifts, though you'll need to be a regular to catch any announcements about how you can be the person/ reader who receives my gifts. (Facebook rules are making posting the opportunities a bit of a mystery) 

Happy reading!

Slàinte!