# Happy Beltane!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 30, 2001, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826 "2001-04-30T10:22:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f14d63/32.png) [@Kricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kricket)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/1 "2001-04-30T10:22:25Z")
So, what are all my Pagan friends up to today? I will be outside planting my gardens and then trying to find something for my best friend for her birthday. She just happens to be my Priestess also. Pretty cool that she recieved that honor on her 30th birthday last year! So, Blessed Be all, and enjoy your day. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/2 "2001-04-30T10:34:19Z")
Not a Pagan (actually not too sure WHAT I am right now!): I’ll be hanging out… getting some work done… wishing **Astrogirl** were here… etc. But, happy Beltane!! ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_griffin-kentzel/32/14787_2.png) [@Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Griffin-Kentzel)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/3 "2001-04-30T10:40:33Z")
Happy Roodmas to you, **Kricket**! ---
**Author:** ![Rue\_DeDay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/41988e/32.png) [@Rue\_DeDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rue_DeDay)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/4 "2001-04-30T12:18:05Z")
Man, is it Beltane _already_? I still have to get the Beltane Bush up. Not to mention doing all that holiday shopping. The candy to give out. And the carolling. (Or is it janetting for Beltane? I forget.) My cards are only half addressed, and I don’t know _what_ I’ll wear for the Beltane Ball… durned holidays, just makes more work… ---
**Author:** ![Rue\_DeDay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/41988e/32.png) [@Rue\_DeDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rue_DeDay)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/5 "2001-04-30T12:24:50Z")
Oh, if that last post seems like I’m dumping on Pagans, I’m not. (Well, maybe a little.) But in my defense I feel pretty much the same way for mainstream holidays. (Christmas, Easter, Fourth of July…) I do think it’s cool to have a time that actually means something to you that the Sinister Card and Candy Machine hasn’t gotten a hold of. (Yet.) Merry Beltane. Or whatever is appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/6 "2001-04-30T14:19:42Z")
“Sexy Beltane”, maybe? In my case, I’m going to go to the Montreal Pagan Grove for a joyful ritual in celebration of the advent of the season of love, with all my fellow pagans. And then I’m going to an orgy. ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/7 "2001-04-30T15:14:08Z")
**Rue DeDay** , no offense taken, but you ought to read up on what Pagans celebrate. I’m about to do my 3rd Beltaine celebration, tonight. The first was a camping event a few weeks ago out on the local Pagan group’s land. It was cool doing a spiral dance in the moshe pit near the stage. The 2nd was a dinner and story telling feast at a friend’s house. I told the story of Tilhwch and Olwen; a classic Beltaine tale from Welsh mythology. Tonight, the boyfriend and I are lighting a bonfire in the back yard (on the grill, of course) and tmorrow, as the sun rises, we’ll grill steaks. _yum_ ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/8 "2001-04-30T15:29:09Z")
Not a pagan…but like “Huron ‘Beltane’ Fire Dance” from Loreena McKennitt [http://www.quinlanroad.com/sounds.html](http://www.quinlanroad.com/sounds.html) have a good one Kricket (when are we going to Old Chicago?) ---
**Author:** ![Persephone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/9 "2001-04-30T21:34:32Z")
I’m, uh, well, er… I’m going bowling. Yes, I am going to bowl in celebration of Beltane. I will become one with the pins, and do my spiral dance of joy whenever I knock some of them down. I shall humble myself before the Goddess and ask her to give me the eye and the arm to get strike after strike after strike. And when I do, I shall thank her for every one. [sub]:::crossing fingers and hoping that my fellow pagans buy that story, because I’m sure not telling them that I just plain forgot:::[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Falcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/49beb7/32.png) [@Falcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falcon)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/10 "2001-04-30T22:22:24Z")
Crap…Cristi? Think you can come up with an excuse that good for me? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![seawitch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@seawitch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seawitch)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2001, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/11 "2001-04-30T22:29:24Z")
I’ll be at a Beltaine rituale; followed by the late night drink fest and romp through the park. Gotta leave now anyway, so I can get ready… Hooray, hooray, the first of May…outdoor screwing starts today!! Merry part, y’all. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2001, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/12 "2001-05-01T00:39:39Z")
Sadly, I have to work late tonight, so it’ll just be a bit of solo meditation when I get home. (Sometimes being a solitary eclectic stinks. Being in tech support stinks more.) However, I did manage to spend most of the weekend out in the woods, singing (badly), dancing (worse), and playing around happily with my friends, so I can’t complain. 🙂 Blessed Be, my friends. ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2001, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/13 "2001-05-01T01:23:36Z")
\*\*Persephone wrote: I’m going bowling. Yes, I am going to bowl in celebration of Beltane.\*\* So, **Persephone** like to play with big, heavy balls for Beltane, well isn’t **THAT** appropriate! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f14d63/32.png) [@Kricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kricket)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2001, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/14 "2001-05-01T03:57:22Z")
Ostara is the holiday that snuck up on me. I didn’t get anything planted today, but I did get all my gardens cleaned out and ready for tomorrow. I hate cutting back the trees and bushes, but I know that I have to. So I let them know I was just giving them a hair cut so they could grow bigger and fuller over the summer. Even though I am solitary for the most part, I do do holiday rituals with the coven. And yes, since I had to work, I too missed the big ritual. And Rue, your first post could be quite appropriate really…I would decorate the bush but I shave, the holiday shopping was done at the adult toy store, we have already discussed what candy can be used for in another thread, chanting is good, and as to what to wear for the ball, skyclad is so much easier. Alright, everybody chant the Burning Times…Isis, Astar,Tetane, Hecate, Demeter, Callie… My fav though is Never Underestimate a Woman with the Goddess in Her Eyes. The kids like Earth My Body. Earth my body, Water my blood, Air my breath, and Fire my spirit… ---
**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2001, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/15 "2001-05-01T05:01:52Z")
I had all my finals today and I have to work tonight so I will do a late celebration and ritual tomorrow when I can finally see the sun again. Happy Beltane, everyone! ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2001, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/16 "2001-05-01T05:19:45Z")
It’s Beltane? Oh, fer crying out loud! I must be the lamest Pagan I know. I’ve just got to get myself a decent calendar. (Of course, what’s a Pagan holiday without a little chalice and blade action, and how’m I going to accomplish that with no one’s blade to borrow? Being single sucks.) ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2001, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/17 "2001-05-01T12:36:21Z")
We do a Pagan craft night at my house one Monday a month. Last night was body art night. ]😉 We did ritual over the weekend out in the woods. ---
**Author:** ![Rosebud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rosebud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rosebud)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2001, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/18 "2001-05-01T13:37:01Z")
Happy Beltane! 🙂 I’m taking classes right now with a teaching coven in New York, so we do all our stuff on the nearest Saturday. Which means that we’re doing a May Pole thing this week, relatively small. But next Sunday (don’t know why they’re waiting 'til Mother’s Day!), New Moon New York is holding a much larger scale ritual on the Great Hill in Central Park. I’m not sure if I’m going to that one yet, but I’d like to. I attended their Lughnasadh (I’m mangling that!) circle last year, and it was great. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Pinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dr.Pinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Pinky)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2001, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/19 "2001-05-01T13:38:31Z")
long, lean & ivory goddess of the jewel-speckled dawn, rise like the moon potent – pregnant – round & arc across the vast expanse like a question mark uncoiling like a fern unfurling toes throbbing with desires fingers digging the delta of the Nile long, lean & ivory with thighs that seize the western skies I lie and laze on your soft moss & gaze amazed, unable to tell if clouds creep crossed your taut arched belly, if the breeze is making waves on the white silk canopy of your bed. long, lean & ivory Incestuous sister the core of myth, corn & woe kernel of yearning the moon your belly your body a stretched string that hums across the heavens sacred power to birth or destroy long, lean & ivory the sun blazing from between your legs the dazzling glory of a golden cat’s eye long, lean & ivory lank flanks licked by the prick of heat the wisdom seized and covered in love love & lust explored, exposed merge & kiss the dark goodnight ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2001, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826/20 "2001-05-01T15:35:23Z")
So, how’d it go, everyone? Last night, my partner and I bid farwell to Spring and welcomed in Summer. We opened all the windows and doors and stood on the back porch, facing west, saying (in Gaelic) Bye, Bridgit!! Then I built a fire in the grill (praise be the Great Smith Weber! :)) and lit it. Meanwhile, the partner got a couple tiki torches set-up so we could have a fire to step between going into the house. Then we place tea-candles in each room and doused all the lights. With a burning stick from the bonfire, we lit the tiki torches and then all the candles in the house. Then we settled in for some feasting and reading from _The Apple Branch_ and other texts. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-beltane/63826.md?page=2)