Announcements from Shining Lakes News - Spring Equinox 2000

Preparing for Beltaine

Beltaine is a time of revelry, a time for overturning the usual social conventions and celebrating sensuality and silliness. There are many customs specific to this High Day, and I thought I'd let everyone know about them in advance, so they could be prepared. (I'm not sure anyone can ever really be prepared for Beltaine, though!)

As with each of our High Day rites, we begin on Friday night with our Fire Watch ceremony. We light a fire at dusk, bless it, and keep it burning until the time of the ritual. Staying up all night watching the fire with other Grove members is a great bonding experience. You don't have to stay all night, though, you're certainly welcome to attend for part of the evening.

The Fire Watch of Beltaine is a little different, though. During the night, we collect dew from the grass. This is May Dew, and was considered to have healing properties. If you would like to collect May Dew, we recommend bringing an empty bottle (with a stopper of some sort) to Fire Watch.

Around 4 AM on Saturday morning, we head off for the Dawn Rite. We travel to the headwaters of the Huron River, to make offerings to Ana, our local river goddess. If she accepts them, we then collect water from the middle of the lake. As the sun rises, we hold the bowl of water up to collect the first rays of morning light. This light-blessed water becomes our supply of sacred water for the coming year.

To me, this is the most beautiful rite our Grove celebrates. Lots of people have seen our afternoon rites, but how many have ever seen a heron fly over Big Lake in the pre-dawn sky, or waited shivering in the cold for the sun to rise, or done a group chant in the still air of the morning? I hope that everyone reading this who can stand to get up that early (I know, it's not easy for me either) will be able to join us for this rite.

When the afternoon comes along, the Beltaine rite itself begins. Since Beltaine is a time for breaking from normal social restraints, this is the most important holiday for our Troupe of Fools. Expect to see unusually bizarre performances from them. We will randomly select a King/Queen of the the May, who will be asked to jump over the fire to bring us fertility for the coming year. And of course, we will do a Maypole dance. (And we may even get it right this year!)

No Beltaine would be complete without our Body Auction. After the rite, Grove members will donate eight hours of service (such as costume design, house cleaning, massage therapy, or even poetry writing) to the highest bidder, with the proceeds going to the Grove. If you would like to donate yourself to the auction, please get in contact with Rob.

Our Beltaine ritual will be a little early this year. Fire Watch will be the evening of April 28th, with the Dawn Rite and main rite on the 29th. In case of rain, the main rite will be moved to the 30th. Call the Grove "hotline" at (734) 487-4931 to see if the rite has been rescheduled.

We hope that you can join us in our Beltaine celebrations!

Rob Henderson
Senior Druid

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