May Day heralds the inauguration of the Celtic summer and the great festival of Beltaine, a celebration of fire, fertility and the sacred communication between mortal and divine.
The dire tides of Samhain have passed and the world is awash in the ecstasy of nature. The stirrings of life heard at Imbolg have matured into the vibrant song of summer inviting all to revel in the sensuous delights of love and procreative mystery as well as pay homage to the proto-Celtic god Belenus.
As with all Celtic festivals, Beltaine stands as a turning point. The wheeling of time is held fast within the feast name. "Belt" refers to white, or the white lunar eye and "Aine" names the primary Celtic solar deity, thus the turning of dark to light, season to season, and with it, the inevitable decline of summer into fall.
A good-natured festival, Beltaine is a season of the open air, love and not necessarily conjugal ties. It is not the unmarried who are pitied, but the unloving. Young and old gather flowers, weave garlands of hawthorn, marigold and rowan and steal into the night on May Eve to engage in lusty "greenwood" marriages.
Unlike the chaotic eeriness of Samhain when divination could spell doom, Beltaine was a time of bettering your luck, of skimming wells and gathering May dew for health. The fairy folk, equally anxious to see the end of winter, travelled unhindered twixt the sidhe mounds and the villages, eager for a bit of mischief and frivolity.
Fairs to fete Beltaine were the first chance of the year for neighbors to greet each other after a long and oftentimes bitter winter. The principal gathering was held at the Hill of Uisneach in County Westmeath.
Uisneach is the area of the "territorially elusive" fifth province of Mide, the mythological Centre or "divine island" of Ireland. Whereas the Hill of Tara was the political centre of the High Kings of Ireland, Uisneach is the royal centre, the home of the goddess Erui and the sacred ground on which humans may engage their gods in the Otherworld.
It is this fifth province which sustains the tension to unite the other four provinces of Ireland, eternally orchestrating the divine cycle of events. Writer Michael Dames refers to "mide" as the "neck" that joins "body with soul," humanity with cosmos.
At twilight on May Eve, stumbling in the half-light, villagers made their way to the summit of Uisneach where two enormous bonfires filled the sky. On neighboring hills and out onto the coasts, ring after ring of double bonfires burned, creating an undulating web of "fire eyes" through which Erui could again see her land and her people.
Upon reaching the summit, wind whipping sparks and smoke heavenward, the visitor would be stunned by the enormity of the bonfire and the lights calling back from the bonfires lit out into the horizon. The elemental fire light together with unbridled energy of the participants created a transcendent space in which communication could pass unimpeded between human and goddess - an exchange of gifts between worlds.
Today a valley road winds by the Hill of Uisneach from Mullingar to Athlone. Unlike most sites of significance in Ireland, there is actually a road sign marking the spot next to a small parking area. The Hill itself is like many in the area, peopled only by sheep and holsteins.
Passing through a stile and walking the path up the side of the hill the visitor can be deceived (especially at twilight) by several false summits which lead from the path. Approaching the actual summit, the wind picks up and although clouds of night are gathering, the view is as panoramic as it was centuries ago.
The remains of an earthen embankment, now the home of gorse and bushes, circle the area of the summit. The bank and ditch are thought of neolithic construction and enclose the bonfire sanctuary of a prehistoric goddess religion. Excavations of the summit area have revealed an enormous layer of ash from the annual bonfire rituals.
On the way to the summit I wondered if Erui had left her home, if the Old Ways were gone. There were no crowds gathered here - at the very centre of the pagan Celtic world, only a few people here and there moving around the darkened hill.
Reaching the sanctuary with my companion, candle in hand, I stood to face the view which in past years would have seen the great bonfire web. With no bonfires to greet us, the horizon was darkening fast. The wind swirled to embrace us and the atmosphere became thick with the collective memories of all those who must once have set foot on this summit at this sacred moment of Beltaine. In an instant an ineffable rapture came upon me, an overwhelming sense of welcome and primal unity with this goddess Erui.
The Old Ways are not gone, they are vibrant and patiently await our summons in the heart-fires of this season. Welcome Beltaine, welcome Erui.