Cows, Hares, & Hawthorn
Vote for a Beltane-inspired Folklore Friday!
Hi, friends. I’m so excited that today’s post lines up with our current celebrations of Beltane or May Day here in the Northern Hemisphere. In the three years or so since I’ve begun learning about the quarter and cross quarter days, I rarely have time or inclination to make a big deal of them. But it’s been so fun traveling down the Beltane rabbit (hare) hole recently!
In that spirit, I want to share with you a bit of history of this celebration, a few fun, simple ways you can observe it, and to invite you to vote on this month’s Folklore Friday theme.
At the end I’m also sharing two wonderful, community-building writing retreat/opportunities from two writers I respect, so if that sounds intriguing, be sure to read to the end.
Cows, Hares, & Hawthorn
As a herald of the start of summer, it is associated with fire and the sun. The May Queen and the Green Man are quite active in folklore and ritual celebrations. There’s a conglomeration of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon roots which have tangled together over millennia..
There are so many animals, plants, stories, and rituals associated with this day, as well as multiple spellings and pronunciations of Beltane, too. Many celebrations from across the ancient world are sometimes mixed together on May 1st celebrations. The ancient Roman Floralia1 isn’t the same as Walpurgisnacht isn’t the same as Beltane, even if they were celebrated around the same time and for many of the same reasons.
One of the most interesting things I discovered in my research adventures was the humble, survival-based roots of Beltane. The earliest agrarian societies probably didn’t have time to do things that are associated with modern Beltane celebrations, such as dance around bonfires or create elaborate, lusty fertility rituals. Those bonfires probably started as brush-clearing fires to make way for planting. Clearing brush also meant cattle could graze, which in turn meant more food for humans.
Why do I find this interesting? While more lavish celebrations sound so fun, one reason I and many others enjoy marking these cross-quarter or quarter holidays is because they help us notice the changes in seasons and root us to our surroundings. They help us remember our ancestors. They can help us care for the earth. If I make any ritual so elaborate I can’t slow down and notice, then what’s the point?
Back to Beltane. As time went on and tales of the fae cropped up and spread, it was believed that early May is one of the thinnest times of the year between our world and other realms. Hares were associated with witchcraft, shapeshifting, and the otherworld. There are SO MANY tales here. Hawthorn trees, also known as May-trees, feature heavily in folklore associated with this time of year for their connections to witchcraft, Faerie, and faeries.
10 Simple Ways to Celebrate Beltane
-Walk to a field with cows and say hello.
-host a bonfire night with friends.
-if bonfires are against your local safety codes, light a candle.
-eat something with honey, thanking the bees for providing it.2
-clear dead brush or fallen sticks from your yard.
-plant a garden or some herbs.
-make a flower crown, or wear one made with artificial flowers.
-eat ice cream or another dairy treat (if you’re not lactose intolerant, that is).
-search out and read a tale about Beltane.
-drink tea made with hawthorn, such as Celestial Seasonings Mandarin Orange Spice or Sleepytime.
Sources & further reading:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/beltane-origins
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/fear-of-rabbits
https://beltane.org/2024/04/22/the-green-man-the-mushroom-and-the-frog/
https://www.hekatecovenant.com/post/hecate-and-bee-fairies-at-beltane
Vote for the next Folklore Friday theme!
Next week will be the paid post for subscribers, and then I’ll share May’s FF. What do you think? Should I stick to plants or write about animal folklore for a change?
Writing community opportunities
Both of these writers demonstrate their love for words and community and I have enjoyed their Substacks so much.
#1 rose j. percy is hosting a mini writing retreat called Woven on May 31st via Zoom. Her post below answers all your questions. Learn more here:
#2 Kaitlin Curtice shared on Instagram about an upcoming Resistance Journal Club that she is leading. Here’s her Substack, too.
Meet you over the orchard wall, friends.*
*One of my wonderful early readers for The Secret Heart of Maeve MacGowan started signing her emails like this. I like it.
Thanks for being here. My AuDHD brain is a bit scattered and prone to change things last minute, but here in The Purple Vale you can count on reflections on folklore, fairy tales, and the seasons from my little corner of East Tennessee–which is unceded Cherokee and Muscogee land.
Spelling?
I didn’t even touch on bees here, but they are another animal closely associated with Beltane.
I can see I'm in the minority here with my vote for cows! I'm intrigued as to what you have to say about them. Happy Beltane, Stephanie! Your crown is gorgeous!