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Awakened Conscious Conversations
Celebrating Beltane: Ancient Rituals in Modern Times
I got up early to celebrate Beltane, an ancient Celtic festival marking the start of summer that survived Roman invasion and is widely celebrated in my town. The ancient rhythms of Beltane pulse through my town as dawn breaks on this first day of May. Rising before sunrise, I witness the gathering crowds, distant music, and even a magnificent dragon air balloon soaring overhead as celebrants honor this Celtic festival that marks the symbolic start of summer.
Beltane isn't some New Age invention but a deep-rooted tradition that survived Roman occupation and continues to thrive today. The rituals unfold with women digging holes for the maypole, which men erect before community dances weave ribbons in celebration of life and fertility. Throughout town, faces painted green and adorned with elaborate masks embody the Green Man, while dragon celebrations add mythical dimensions to the festivities that will continue all weekend.
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So good morning everyone. I got up extra early today to celebrate the festival of Beltane, which was here long before the Roman. It's not New Age. It was how people used to say thanks to nature, to life, etc. Before the Romans invaded and you would have thought it would have been wiped out, but it's still got some very strong footholds and it is celebrated greatly in this town. The amount of people that were going up to the tour and I captured on the tour I even managed to capture this amazing air balloon, which was a dragon come over the top. I was recording from a great distance, about 20 minutes walk from the um where everyone was celebrating, but I did manage to catch a little bit of it. I'll put it in now.
Speaker 2:So there's a lot of happening. Now I'm building.
Speaker 1:Even though it's a 20 minute walk, you can hear it from here, so what BELLS CHIRPING?
Speaker 1:and Beltane. So the first of May, and may I say what an amazing, beautiful May day it is. Here it has been hot all week, the sun is shining and, as you know, british are completely obsessed with the weather. So I know I have an international audience and I thank you for letting me talk about the weather as often as I do at the start of each podcast. But Beltane marks it's a symbolic mark to the start of summer in the northern hemisphere.
Speaker 1:Yesterday on the hill, the ladies of the town were digging a hole and then the male maypole, um, is going to be put up today and by the men and everyone's going to dance around it and looping around with the male maypole and please forgive me, I've been up very early so I'm getting my words a bit mixed up. It's because of that, but it's um, it is worshipped by um, all different Celtic rituals and even before that, even before that, and it is said, and I have a deep connection with this is when it's supposed to be a thin veil between the nature spirits and the fairies and and, and it's good time to leave some sort of offering. But I, regardless, if you think, regardless, if you think, oh, yes, I agree with that. Oh oh, that's just a little bit too off the wall for me. Take today to say thank you to nature in some kind of way, like after, um, I finished recording this bite-sized but celebratory podcast, I'm going to go out and give some food to the birds. I had a really beautiful symbolic symbol um, as I was sitting there in the garden in the dark um alone. My partner's back later, so I was like on my own in the dark garden, which, yeah, in the past you wouldn't have got me sat out there. But, um, there's all kinds of things live in my garden, like animals, that is, um, but I was so happy to see two beautiful bats flying above to the left and they were like lapping over each other in joy and I just thought that was such a symbol of joy. And then the birds, and then all the people when this, when the sunrise came up, cheering on the tour and playing instruments, and there's going to be massive celebrations today and the whole weekend. Today I've got a very work heavy day, in a sense that, um, I must be the only person in the whole town working today. However, however, I really like my work and also I kind of forgot that it was May Day. I could have arranged things differently, but you know, that is my gift to the world today. And yeah, there's going to be massive celebrations. There's going to be dragon celebrations, all these beautiful celebrations. There's going to be a celebrations, all these beautiful celebrations. There's going to be a big parade in the town, people dressed up as the green man, so they're painting their faces green and they wear like these beautiful masks. It's so amazing the energy here. I just feel so uplifted and the grace of sharing this with you today.
Speaker 1:I normally put my podcast out every Wednesday. I was dealing with a family thing the last couple of Wednesdays, so that's why I haven't put one out till today. And for your meditation, today, I want you to go for a short walk in nature and take every aspect of that in, in a sense that you, you feel the ground beneath your feet, you feel the touch of the ground, you feel the aromas of nature, the sight of nature and only if you know it's safe to do so like just stick your tongue out into the air and just see if you can kind of taste the air as well. So, as always, it is my grace to to share this with you, but I hope you enjoyed this bite-sized podcast and I'll speak to you very soon. But your meditation today is to go out in nature. Don't skip that. Give thanks to this glorious day. Thank you, and happy Beltane. Thank you.
