Bring your own flowers, vines and greens to add to temple's supply, and weave a spring wreath to wear during the day's festivities.

Pot Luck is an "Eat the Rainbow" theme, please bring any brightly colored food respresentative of Spring

for our "Rainbow" buffet.

Interesting Facts about 

BELTANE & MAY DAY  

Beltane is the first day of Summer in the Old Calendar. While it is easy to see Summer in May in Phoenix, for those of our ancestors that had cold snow-filled winters, by May the snows of Winter had gone, the Blessed' growth of Spring had provided fodder for the horses, sheep cows goats and other farm animals in the form of fresh green grass, and so it was time to let them out of their pens to graze freely, and time to give Thanks to the Lady and the Lord for their current and continuing abundance, so there was feasting, dancing and singing. People also showed their devotion by making love outdoors, since that activity was Blessed and Holy, a giving of Creation Energy to the Earth, and therefore an Offering to our Creators, and hence a form of Worship.

The celebration of May 1st, or Beltane is one of the most colorful and fun festivals the year. The word Beltane means "shining fire."  This holiday is also observed as May Day, the day to celebrate the earth in Her Green-Gaia most fabulous self!

The collecting of spring flowers is one of the popular customs of this day. For thousands of years, people would go into the fields to collect the pretty flowers and exchange them. Towns people would often proceed through the village streets putting flowers on all the houses and buildings. People inside the homes would offer them wonderful food and goodies to eat as sort of a spring version of "trick or treat."   

Another benchmark tradition of this holiday is the Maypole. In tradition, a fir was used. The young, unwed men would go to the forest and return with the tree that would be fashioned into the pole. The pole was brought to the center of the village to be guarded through the night until the first day of May. On that day, the people would come and dance around the maypole clockwise to bring fertility and good luck. Later, brightly colored ribbons were woven around the pole by the dancers as they wove around eachother. This symbolizes the balance of masculine and feminine energies and the duality of life. The ribbons would then be removed and kept in a safe place to be burned in the Beltane fires of next year. This action represents the old dying to give birth to the new.

Fertility is a central theme of Beltane. The people lived in close connection with the Earth. To have food to eat, the crops and the beasts of the fields would have to be fertile. In the time of the ancients, this was a life and death matter. For this reason, we have a number of holidays and rituals that are connected with fertility. The maypole is connected to this theme by way of the view point of it being a phallic symbol.