Tag Archives: celts

A to Z Blogging Challenge, Celtic society

V is for Votadini, Tribe of the Gododdin

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Ptolemy’s map of Scotland south of the Forth. The Votadini are called “Otadini” on this map. Map created by Notuncurious. Obtained from Wikimedia Commons under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Chances are good that unless you’ve studied Celtic history, you’ve never heard of the Votadini. I hadn’t either, until I began my research. They are one of the four tribes of living in what is today southern Scotland, but was in Arthur’s time (approximately 450-550 AD) the northern part of Britain. The area is most easily defined as between Hadrian’s Wall and Antonine Wall, or from the Firth of Forth to the Solway Firth. The Votadini’s land was in the southeastern section of this area. Other tribes between the walls included Damnonii, Selgovae and Novantae.

The Votadini, or Gododdin people, are best known from a 13th century manuscript of an earlier poem called Y Gododdin, which describes a battle fought at Catterick in Yorkshire in the late sixth century. In this poem, a group of British from the Gododdin, estimated at upwards of 2,000 footmen and cavalrymen set out from Din Eidyn (Endinburgh) to attack the walled palace of Catrarth, which was held by the Angles.  They were defeated, but their heroism was remembered in song, including one of the first known references to the man who is believed to be King Arthur: “He brought down black crows to feed before the walls of the city, though he was no Arthur.”

The daily life of the Votadini is a mystery. They were Britons somewhere between Pictish and Roman, and some sources say they were allied with the Romans, but allowed to keep their independence. According to Philip Coppen, the Votadini worshiped the god Llew and held Traprian Law as their capital. (For those who know Arthurian legend, that is the home of the fearsome King Lot.)

At some point around the time of Arthur, the Votadini were granted safe haven in the kingdom of Gwynedd (modern northern Wales).The Votadini provided formidable defense against the Irish in exchange for new lands on which to settle. Phillips and Keatman suggest this happened at the insistence of Ambrosius after the withdrawal of Rome, but don’t explain why.

This is only a brief introduction to the Votadini and other tribes of the area. I will probably do a longer series on these intriguing people once I’ve had the chance to read Tim Clarkson’s insightful books on the subject. (I own two, I just haven’t gotten around to reading them yet. It’s a shame research takes so long.) The reason I’m even bringing them up at all is that the Votadini are the ancestors several of my main characters (you’ll have to read the books to find out who) and the majority of book 3 will take place in the Gododdin.

Have you heard of the Votadini or their homeland of the Gododdin? Do you have additional details or sources to share? I’d love to hear from you!

——

Sources:

Kings, Warriors, Craftsmen and Priests by Leslie Alcock
Land of the Gods by Philip Coppen
King Arthur: The True Story by Graham Phillips and Martin Keatman

Post updated August 4. 2013 to rectify errors in previous source material.

A to Z Blogging Challenge, Celtic society

U is for Unguents and Celtic Herbalism

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Jarrow Hall from Herb Garden, Bede’s World, near to Jarrow, South Tyneside, Great Britain. Copyright Andrew Curtis. Obtained from Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike license 2.0.

Long before Shakespeare’s witches muttered “double, double, toil and trouble” Celtic priestesses and wise women had bubbling cauldrons filled with herbs and other healing potions that could rival most modern medicine. Deeply connected to the earth, they knew which plants could staunch bleeding, cure illness, alleviate pain, or lessen suffering when wounds or illness could not be cured. Today, we call this “alternative medicine;” during Celtic times, it was the only medicine.

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor or an herbalist, or even particularly skilled with herbs (outside of cooking) so don’t take anything you read here as medical advice. Don’t try this at home without the advice of a medical professional.

Herbal medicine came in many forms. Tinctures were highly concentrated doses of an herb, usually added to tea or some other drink. Poultices were crushed herbs mixed with mud or a sticky herb like slippery elm to make them stick together. They were applied to the skin. Fomentations were strong herbal teas in which a cloth was dipped (or filled with herbs) and applied to a body part (kind of like medicated gauze is now). Syrups were often made from boiling herbs, water and honey, much like our liquid medicines today (and they probably tasted about as good). Unguents were oils/lotions/salves made from lanolin (natural oils in a sheep’s wool) or beeswax and herbs. The herbs were used fresh when possible, but also dried for use in winter.

The Celts believed that the time of year and phase of the moon affected the potency and/or properties of herbs. Midsummer was traditionally when they were believed to be at their most potent, and herbs were never harvested after Samhain, as they (along with any other crops) were believed at that time to belong to the nature spirits. Some herbs were best harvested under the full moon, while others should be taken under the new moon. The most famous of these is the description from Pliny the Elder (which may or may not be accurate) of white-robed Druids harvesting mistletoe with a golden scythe on the sixth day of the new moon.

Many of the herbs common to our kitchens and gardens today (or at least mine!) would have been introduced to the Celts by the Romans. These include dill, parsley, rosemary, oregano, spearmint, rue, thyme, marjoram, garlic, fennel, basil and sage. Herbs native to Britain included wild chives, round mint, mistletoe, loveage, mallow, wild lettuce, foxglove and water dropwort.  Examples of Celtic usage of herbs include:

  • Hawthorne berries to protect the heart
  • Elder flowers to calm a fever
  • Willow and/or ivy bark to relieve pain
  • Rue to induce vomiting or as an antidote to snake bites
  • Fennel to prevent gas or to wash out the eyes
  • Borage to soothe inflammation and burns
  • Pine oil to relieve coughs
  • Henbane for nerves
  • St. John’s wort for burns and mood ailments
  • Seaweed with rose hips for coughs
  • Horehound to cure coughs, colds and diarrhea

The Celts also used poisonous plants in healing (in small doses, of course). Mistletoe was considered a “cure all” and was thought to make sterile animals fertile and act as an antidote to poison. Hemlock was used as a sedative, antispasmodic and as an antidote to the bite of a mad dog. Eryngo (sea holly) was a diuretic, stimulant and expectorant. Water dropwort was used to treat bronchitis, tuberculosis and asthma. Orpine was used externally to cool inflamed wounds and heal burns. Nightshade, henbane and thorn apple were all used as painkillers and sleeping medicines. Columbine was used for dropsy. Ferns, tansy and mugwort were used to rid a person of intestinal parasites (apparently a very unpleasant cure). Lily of the valley and foxglove were both used to regulate the heart (foxglove still is). In The Healing Power of Celtic Plants, Angela Paine cites a recipe for an anaesthetic potion from the Physicians of Myddfai that includes hemlock, mandrake, wild lettuce, ground ivy, poppy, eryngo and orpine.

Sources:
A Druid’s Herbal by Ellen Evert Hopan
The Healing Power of Celtic Plants by Angela Paine
Food in Roman Britain by Joan Alcock
Daily Life of the Pagan Celts by Joan Alcock
Celtic Daily Life by Victor Walkey

What have you heard about Celtic herbalism or healing plants? Is there anything obvious I’m forgetting? Are there any sources you would recommend?

A to Z Blogging Challenge, Celtic society

Q is for Queens in the Celtic World

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I love this image of Boudicca because I think she looks like Rachelle Lefevre.

“I am woman, hear me roar” may have been spoken out loud for the first time in the 1970s, but it may as well have been the mantra of Celtic women. Compared to their contemporaries in the Roman Empire, Greece and just about every other civilization, Celtic women had amazing rights and freedoms. I’ll go into more detail in the future, but suffice for now that they could own land, marry and divorce at will and were well represented under the law.

But yet, scholars disagree on whether or not Celtic Queens were the exception or the norm. Recent thought (in the books I’ve read) seems to show a disfavor for the idea of many historical queens, dismissing the ideal of the now mythologized matrilineal society/succession as unlikely, if not impossible. Personally, I think more women ruled than those we have records for. Do I have evidence for this? Absolutely not. But the Celts weren’t big on writing things down, so who is to say there weren’t more that are lost in history? I find it hard to believe that a society that was so supportive of women didn’t also have more women rulers. Since history is written by the victors (in this case, men), we’re lucky to know about the few we do.

But I digress. Here are two Celtic women from history who fought for and against the Romans, doing what they thought was best for their people.

  1. Cartimandua – Cartimandua was Queen of the Brigantes, a large tribe in northern Britain (around modern Yorkshire). According to the evidence we have to date, she was the first hereditary queen to rule any part of Britain. Unlike Boudicca, who married into her Queenship, Cartimandua was born to rule and her husbands held the role of consorts. It is likely that she was already Queen and married to her first husband, Venutius, before the Romans came in 43 AD. The Romans needed her help and protection if they were to extend their rule in Britain and Cartimandua was a wise woman, so she made a treaty with Emperor Claudius. However, her pro-Roman leanings were not popular and she had to quell a series of revolts among her subjects. In 48 AD, Roman forces helped her end these revolts. Three years later, her warriors captured the leader of the resistance, Caratacus, and turned him over to the Romans, winning their continued support. Twice during 52 – 57 AD, her husband attempted to overthrow her by allying with the anti-Roman Celts, but Cartimandua’s Roman allies intervened. During this time, some sources say she divorced her husband in favor of his cup-bearer (or armor-bearer, depending on the source), Vellocatus, while others say that eventually, Cartimandua and her husband came to an accord and reigned together until 69, when she then divorced him for Vellocatus. In 69, Venutius rebelled again and was successful in ousting Cartimandua from the throne. What happened to her after that is unknown, but her legacy is that during her entire reign, she kept her lands free from Roman occupation. Fun side note: Cartimandua is even said by some to be the model for the Arthurian character of Guinevere, thanks to the love triangle she created with her husband and lover.

  2. Boudicca – Boudicca (also spelled Boadicea) was of the Icini tribe in Southeast Britain in the early first century AD. Her husband, Prasutagus, saw advantage in allying with Rome, and this decision brought them many years of peace. When Prasutagus died, the Romans discovered he had named the Emperor co-heir with his two daughters. The Romans couldn’t bear the thought of sharing power – much less with two women – so they attacked the Icini villages. Boudicca, now Queen, was publicly flogged and her two daughters raped. Enraged, she rallied the people and they revolted, destroying several large Roman cities during the years 60-61 AD, including Camulodunum, Londinium (modern London) and Verulamium. Pursuing the Romans even further, she met Gaius Suetonius Paulinus and his forces in the Battle of Waltling Street. Although the Romans were vastly outnumbered, their military discipline and precision resulted in their victory. Thousands of Celts died. No one knows for sure what happened to Boudicca. She is believed to have survived the battle and either died from illness or taken poison (possibly along with her daughters) to avoid capture, public humiliation and eventual execution by Rome.

I was going to cover some mythological Queens, too, but I think this is enough for one day.

What do you think? Did the Celts have more Queens than these two? Have you  ever heard of Boudicca or Cartimandua before this? (Cartimandua was new to me, but I find her fascinating.)

A to Z Blogging Challenge, Celtic society

P is for Pick Your Poison: Alcohol in Post-Roman Celtic Britain

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Reconstruction drawing of a Celtic feast in full flight in Iron Age Britain, by Chris Evans (English Heritage Graphics Team).

What would a Celtic feast be without a bit of drink? (Okay, a lot of drink – the Celts knew how to have fun!) Even though distillation and the spirits it produced didn’t come along in Ireland and Scotland until the 1400s (at least as far as written records show), the Celtic people had plenty of alcohol to keep them in a partying (and sometimes fighting) mood. Alcohol played an important role in both feasting (especially after battle) and religious ritual. The following is a brief synopsis, taken primarily from Food in Roman Britain by Joan Alcock, A History of Beer and Brewing by Ian Spencer Hornsey and Who Were the Celts? by Kevin Duffy.

Wine – Perhaps one of the most ancient forms of alcohol, wine was used by the Celts both for cooking and drinking. While the climate of Britain wasn’t hospitable to vineyards, the Celts (southern tribes) were importing wine as early as the Iron Age from places like Italy, Rhodes and Southern Gaul. By the 3rd century, it was coming from North Africa and from the Mediterranean by the 5th and 6th centuries. Remnants of attempted British vineyards have been found in various parts of the country and it is believed that was grown in them was consumed locally, but not fit for export or trade.

Mosaic showing a slave with wine amphorae

Unlike the Romans, the Celts didn’t water their wine and were said by some to get quite drunk and rowdy.The Romans even commented that the long, thick mustaches of the Celtic men acted as strainers as they drank (I know, ewwww!). Duffy says wine was reserved for nobility, while commoners drink mead or beer. Wine quality varied depending on the number of pressings the fruit went through. The lowest quality was the fourth and final press, which was mixed with water and sold to soldiers and slaves. Some wines were flavored with gypsum or lime or had fruit or fruit juice (raisins were popular), herbs (such as wormwood or oil of black myrtle), spices (like pepper) or honey added. The taste of the wine was also affected by the substance used to coat the inside of the amphorae in which it was stored. Common coatings included bitumen, wood pitch and resin. Some wines, especially those sent to forts, were mixed with medication (like horehound) to help cure disease. (See, drinking really can be for medicinal purposes!)

Mead/ale/beer – The wording on this beverage is tricky. Many people call what the Celts drank beer, but others argue that beer is really mead with hops, which weren’t introduced into Britain until the 15th century by the Flemish. However, Roman records note the popularity of Corma, a type of wheat beer prepared with honey that was consumed by the lower classes. They passed around a common cup and drank only a mouthful at a time. And – fun fact – Pliny noted that the froth of beer was used to wash hair, a practice that continues today.

Mead

Mead is a different drink, one made from diluted honey that is left to ferment and them flavored with herbs and fruit. Like wine, it can be dry, semi-dry or sweet. It has an alcohol content of 8%-18%.

Ale, on the other hand, is barley left to ferment, converted to malt and steeped in water to produce wort, a sweet, brown liquid that is then boiled with honey, wormwood or herbs (costmany/alecost was popular, introduced to Britain by the Romans). Ale had to be brewed often because it didn’t last long, and was a  good source of income on large villas and farms.

Cider – The Celts were also known to make cider from crushed and fermented apples (3%-7% alcohol content). Pears, although not native to Britain, were cultivated there, so Alcock speculates they could have produced a pear cider as well.

When I was in Ireland, one of our hosts told me about a strong spirit native to Scotland that pre-dates distillation. For the life of me, I can’t remember what it was called. I think it started with a “p.” Can anyone help jog my memory?

I don’t know about you, but I’d love to try mead. Have any of you ever had it? I’ve never had alcoholic cider either. What do you think about the Celts’ choices in drink? Have you heard of any others?

A to Z Blogging Challenge, Arthurian Legend

N is for Names, or the Identity Crisis in Arthurian Legend

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“The Lady of Shalott” by William Holman Hunt

According to some legends, the Celts believed that to know a person’s true name was to hold power over them. Some tribes even named their children one thing and then gave them another, permanent name when they reached adulthood. That’s why in many myths, a hero doesn’t learn his true name until he is armed by a goddess-like woman. In some versions of Arthurian legend, Guinevere asks Lancelot his name, but he is unable to tell her (because he doesn’t know) until after he completes a quest.

Why am I mentioning this?

  1. You’ll do great if it ever comes up at trivia night.
  2. There are lots of names in Arthurian legend.

Depending on the author and/or translation you read, the same Arthurian character could go by many different names. I’ve only included a few common ones here, but thought you might find it interesting to see who is who:

What’s My Name Again?
(Keep in mind that depending on the author, those listed below as the same character, might in fact be separate characters.)

  1. Guinevere/Gwenhwyfar (Welsh)/Gvenhvyuar (Welsh)/Ganhumara (from Geoffry of Monmouth) – There are about a million more. If you want to see all of them, check out this site. Some legends say there were two or three Guineveres.
  2. Morgan/Morgause/Morganna/Morgaine/Morgan Le Fey/Morgane – Traditionally Arthur’s half sister, she’s also sometimes called Anna.
  3. Galahad/Gwalchavad (Welsh)/Galeas/Galath – Son of Lancelot, he is one of three who find the Holy Grail.
  4. Perceval/Percival/Peredur (Welsh) – Knight who sees the Grail and also meets the Fisher King.
  5. Igraine/Iggraine/Eigyr (Welsh)/Igerne (French)/Ygerne (French)/Ygrayne/Arnive – Arthur’s mother.
  6. Isolde/Iseult/Iseo/Yseult/Isode/Isoude/Esyllt/Isotta – There are three Isoldes, 1) a princess from Ireland who marries Mark even though she’s in love with Tristan, 2) the Irish Isolde’s mother, and 3) a princess from Brittany who marries Tristan after he’s banished from Britain.
  7. Tristan/Drustanus/Drystan/Tristran/Tristram – One of Arthur’s knights, he loved Isolde.
  8. Gawain/Gwalchmei/Gawan/Gawaine/Gwaine/Gavan/Gavin/Walewein/Waweyn – Knight and Arthur’s nephew.

Are you confused yet? I know I am!

Do you think names have special power or significance? What does your name mean? Do you use a special spelling? Can you think of any other Arthurian characters that you’ve seen with different spellings of their names? Which ones do you prefer?

A to Z Blogging Challenge, Arthurian Legend

M is for Magic: How I Handle it in My Books

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“A Magic Circle” by J. W. Waterhouse

When we get into the realm of historical fantasy, and especially Arthurian legend, magic can mean many different things. So, without spoiling the plot, I wanted to give you a little insight on how I’ve chosen to use magic in my series of books.

I’ve never been a big fan of the really high fantasy sword and sorcery stuff where people conjure blue flame out of thin air and play magical dodgeball, so you won’t be seeing that in my work. I decided to go with a more natural approach, one that felt true to the beliefs of the Celts. We don’t know exactly what magic they used, but we know they believed in it from Roman accounts of the battle of Mona where the priestesses were said to keen and cast spells upon the wind as the Roman army advanced and slaughtered them. We also know that they were very in tune with nature. So, I chose to combine the two and make their magic very elemental.

What you will see (mainly from the Druids and priestesses of Avalon):

  • Use of the Sight and divination to see into the past, present and future
  • Invocation of the goddesses/gods and prophecy
  • Weather magic (calling the rain, fog, clouds, etc.)
  • Rituals based in Celtic religious belief
  • Herbalism and healing/poisonous potions
  • Mentions of nature spirits
  • Use of geasa (taboos) to place restrictions on someone

What you won’t see:

  • Smiting with lightning bolts or fireballs
  • Spell casting
  • Mythical creatures as characters (sorry, no dragons or faeries)
  • Shape-shifting

You’ll notice that I don’t use magic as a form of control (spell casting). That’s because I find it far more intriguing to explore the very human ways we manipulate one another through power (political, familial, religious, etc.), emotion (love, lust, hatred, fear) and our own personal beliefs/biases/bigotry.

Royal Mail’s Magical Realm Stamps

I realize that not everyone is as willing to believe in magic as I am, so I’ve also tried to give you a slight hint at possible rational explanations for some of the magic. For example, mystics the world over have found ways to touch hot coals without being burned or walk on glass without being harmed through sheer mental control. If you want to believe that’s what the priestess’ training really is rather than ascribe it to magical ability, you can. What about making it rain? If you want to believe its sheer coincidence, that’s up to you, but my characters most certainly believe in the power of magic.

My characters have certain natural talents, just like you or I, but none of them could perform their magic without serious training. It’s not something they take lightly or do for fun. For them, magic is a gift to be respected and honored, not abused. And if one does abuse it, the consequences are high.

How do you feel about magic in historical fantasy? Do you prefer more or less? What are some books/movies/etc. that you think handled magic well? Which ones didn’t you like? Do you believe in magic?

A to Z Blogging Challenge, Celtic society

L is for Laughter, or Celtic Women’s Rules

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Boudicca by laiyla (http://laiyla.deviantart.com/)

We all need more laughter, and given this is a Celtic/Arthurian blog, I thought this might do it.

I didn’t write this. I don’t know who did. It was sent to me on a listserc back in 1997 and I haven’t been able to find out where it came from. If you know, please tell me and I’ll give credit. I hope you enjoy this as much as I have.

Celtic Woman’s Rules

  1. Please do not talk to my breasts.  You will not be meeting them.
  2. If you attempt to do so, you will be meeting my sword.
  3. My sexual preference is no. (Whoever wrote this had obviously never heard of Queen Maeve. I think this should be changed to “yes, please!” At least that would be more historically accurate.)
  4. Remember: my people can kick your people’s arse.
  5. Fifty-one percent love goddess. Forty-nine percent bitch. ALL warrior.
  6. Girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice – say any differently and I will slice your head off.
  7. If you want to control someone, become a Roman.
  8. Breakfast is on the table. YOU cook it.
  9. It is not the size of your sword that counts, it is- no, wait… size does count.
  10. If you disobey ANY of these rules, you should better pray your horse is FAST.

Eventually, I’ll get around to doing a series of posts on women in the Celtic world: their status, rules on marriage/divorce, children, etc. (the laws are fascinating, but very complex), so keep this funny little post in mind. It’s more accurate than you may think!

A to Z Blogging Challenge, Celtic religion

I is for Insight: Celtic Divination

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I thought this was hilarious! Image linked to original source.

They didn’t have tarot cards (which came along in the 1400s), runes (those came later from the Anglo Saxons) or crystal balls (although those may have been in use as early as the year 500), but the Celts, and specifically the Druids, were big into divination – the art of seeing the future. Here are a few of the most common methods they used:

The Sight
Also called Second Sight, this is basic psychic ability. It was usually a trait of women and was thought to be passed in the female bloodline from mother to daughter. It was also developed among the prophetic class  (Ovates) of Druids. The visions seen and prophecy uttered by those with the sight, though often cryptic and filled with symbolism, were taken very seriously.

Forms of premonition, some of which we still joke about today, were also thought to tell the future in the body. Hence, if you mouth was itching, you’d soon be kissed, or if your ears were hot, someone was talking about your character.

Dreams
Sometimes a dream is just a dream, but sometimes it is much more. As a means of divination, they could come unsolicited, be expected, or even induced. Occasionally, their meaning was interpreted by Druid, but not as often as you’d think. If the dream was intentionally sought, the dreamer prepared by meditation, some kind of ritual purification (fasting was common) and animal sacrifice. In the case of the famous Bull Dream, the dreamer also slept in the hide of a sacred animal – a practice common to many shamanistic religions, including the Native Americans. (The Bull Dream was how the ancient kings of Tara in Ireland were selected.) In addition, some locations were thought to induce prophecy due to the presence of the supernatural, especially areas near water or sacred groves, so the location in which the dreamer slept could play an important role. Lastly, induced dreams were usually precipitated by the use of mind-altering herbs (something I don’t recommend to anyone, just for the record), many of which are now considered poisonous.

Shoulder Blade Reading
We’ve all heard the tales of Druids reading entrails, but one distinctly Celtic form of divination is the reading of the marks in the shoulder blade of an animal, usually an ox, bear, fox or sheep. It was especially common in the Highlands of Scotland. This was an actual profession that consisted of boiling the bone, preparing it and reading the marks, which could indicate those people to be met in the future, while holes and indentations could mean death or prosperity depending on their size and location.

Omens
Omens were sought for nearly every activity, but were especially important when setting out on a journey. The first animal you saw, its posture and actions, as well as the gender, clothing and actions of the first person you meet on your way all foretold the success or failure of your quest. Birds were a special subset of animals known to foretell the future. Certain birds were sacred to the Celts and their flight patterns, calls and other behavior were used to divine the future. For the Irish, the raven and the wren were especially strong portents of the future. Depending on the type of cry the bird gave and where it was positioned when it called, it could mean anything from the imminent arrival of visitors to death and doom for the household. (If you want details, read pages 144-146 of John Matthews’s Secrets of the Druids. He gives an astonishing number of meanings.)

Casting Lots
Similar to the modern casting of ruins, the Celts would toss a group of sticks (some say made from the nine sacred woods), bones or stones and read the resulting pattern to see if a sick person would get well, to identify a future mate, or tell the positive or negative fortune of a person.

Water gazing

Water scrying

Everyday Divination
As mentioned in previous posts, there were also various other forms of common divination, usually to help find love, employed by the everyday Celts. These include the dancing of hazelnuts held over the fire at Samhain, the pattern in the ashes of the fire on Imbolc or dreaming of one’s soul mate on Beltane. Scrying, or gazing into pools of water, flames of fire, or finding patterns in the clouds was also common among both Druids and everyday people.

What methods of Celtic divination have you heard of? Which most interest you? Would you want to know the future if you could?

—-

The main source for this post is John Matthews’s Secrets of the Druids, but I’ve also used a few books discovered in Google Books, including Survivals in Belief Among the Celts by George Henderson.

Celtic religion, Celtic society, sabats

Beltane: Celtic Fertility Festival

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“It’s May, it’s May, the lusty month of May! That lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray.” Yes, I’m channeling Guinevere in the legendary musical, Camelot. Who better to introduce the festival of Beltane (May 1) than the controversial queen? After all, Lerner and Loewe were right. Beltane is all about sex and fertility. And the Celts, unlike the Victorians, weren’t shy about it.

When we looked at Samhain and Imbolc, two of the other high holy days on the Celtic calendar (Lughnasa is yet to come), I took you through them in an experiential way through a short piece of fiction. The reason I’ve chosen not to do so with Beltane is that there is a long section of Book 1 that takes place on Beltane and I’m afraid anything I do here would too closely mirror what’s in the book. So I’m going to cover the festival on a more theoretical basis.

Beltane is the second most sacred of Celtic festivals, just behind Samhain (October 31). In some ways you can think of these two festivals like Christmas and Easter for some Christians. Even if you didn’t practice the rest of the year, you celebrated these two holidays. Beltane is on the opposite end of the wheel of the year from Samhain, and celebrates the light half of life, the life-giving, nurturing fertility of this time of year. (It’s actually the first day of summer on the Celtic calendar.) Like Samhain, Beltane was celebrated with great bonfires and revelry (and still is in parts of the world; check out the Beltane Fire Society to learn about modern celebrations in Edinburgh). Cattle were driven between bonfires as a way of blessing and purifying them, and many young couples daringly leapt over the flames or danced among them.

Taking it to its most basic level, you could say Beltane was an excuse to party. It was a celebration of the sexual union of the God and Goddess, and the creative energies born from their love-making. These energies were thought to bless the land, animals and people, bestowing health and fertility on all. And so the people of the Celtic tribes, unencumbered by prudish morals, took the opportunity to emulate the gods and spent Beltane night in feverish coupling. According to many sources, it didn’t matter if the partners knew one another previously or not, for on that night, all women were the Goddess incarnate and all men, the God. But it wasn’t just sex; it was a holy union blessed by the gods. Sometimes, a May Queen and May King were chosen to partake in these erotic roles in an especially sacred way or, in tamer times, to reenact the wedding of the God and Goddess in a non-sexual pageant before the whole village.

Another common Beltane theme, one that mirrors Samhain, is the hunt. At Samhain, you have Herne the Hunter, the dark god who rides the autumn sky with his red-eyed hell hounds in supernatural hunt. But on Beltane you have the image of the Great Hunt, of either a wild boar, or as beautifully depicted in The Mists of Avalon, the King Stag. Similarly, some branches of Celtic belief attach the story of the triumph of the Oak King (summer) over the Holly King (winter) to Beltane (although many neo-pagan groups associate this story with Midsummer, instead). No matter which mythology you choose, the idea is the same. Just as the light overpowers the darkness on Beltane, so does the younger generation topple the old in the hunt, giving reign to the powers of life and fertility once again.

Beltane is the other festival in which the veil between our world and the spirit world is virtually nonexistent. At Samhain, spirits of the dead roamed the lanes, but on Beltane, faeries and other nature spirits rule the day. While some invoked the tamer nature spirits, the Celts knew a dark side to the fey as well, so many used talismans against changelings (faerie babies put in place of stolen human babies) near this festival. Faeries could easily beguile people and animals on this night, taking them under control and leading them away to their mounds, where one day was equivalent to centuries in the mortal realm. To ward off such danger, the bonfires were made of nine sacred woods, and offerings of wine, milk or a pottage of oats were left outside the festival areas to divert and appease any fey who might be attracted to the revelry.

Today, Beltane lives on in Maypole dances (an ancient fertility rite in which the pole is phallic, the ribbons represent its union with the feminine, and the dance the act of intercourse), May Day and Catholic May Crowning ceremonies (which many point to as a form of veiled Goddess worship). Then again, in some parts of the world, it hasn’t changed at all. Check out this article from The Telegraph on the resurgence in popularity of the feast.

Do you celebrate Beltane? If so, how? What traditions live on in your part of the world? Have you read about Beltane festivals in books (fiction or non-fiction)? What are your favorite portrayals?