Beltane Tids & Bits

Celebrated:
starts on the evening of April 30th, concluding at
sunset of May 1st, actual: the date on which the sun is at 15 degrees Taurus.

Activities and Rituals:
fertilize, nurture and boost existing goals,
games, activities of pleasure, leaping bonfires, making garlands, May Pole
dance, planting seeds, walking one’s property, feasting

Colors:
Red, White, Brown, Pink, Green

Tools:
Broom, May Pole, cauldron

Stones/Gems:
Emerald, malachite, amber, orange carnelian, sapphire, rose
quartz

Symbols & Decorations:
May Pole, fires, fertility, flowers, growing things, ploughs, cauldrons of flowers

Foods:
Dairy, bread, cereals
Oatmeal cakes
May Day bread
Cherries
Strawberries
Wine punches
Green salads
Ice cream
Red fruit

Flowers, Herbs:
Lily of the valley, foxglove, rose, broom, Hawthorne,
Dittany of Crete, elder, mint, mugwort, thyme, yarrow, almond tree/shrub,
clover, ivy, marigold, meadowsweet, rowan, sorrel, woodruff

Deities:
Aphrodite, Artemis, Bast, Diana, Faunus, Flora, Maia, Pan, the
Horned God, Venus, and all Gods and Goddesses who preside over fertility.

Animals:
Swallow, dove, swan, Cats, lynx, leopard

Other Names:
Cetsamhain (opposite Samhain),May Day, Fairy Day,Sacred Thorn
Day, Rood Day, Roodmas (the Christian term for Rood Day, Old Beltane,
Beltaine, Beltain, Baltane, Walpurgis Night, Floriala (Roman feast of
flowers from April 29 to May 1), Walpurgisnacht (Germanic-feast of St.
Walpurga), Thrimilce (Anglo-saxon), Bloumaand (Old Dutch)