SOME SIMPLE WAYS TO CELEBRATE BELTANE

At the start of May, the year tips toward summer. The days stretch longer, the air softens, and everywhere there’s a sense of movement—trees leaf out, bees get busy, and flowers begin to open once more. This is when Beltane, one of the old Celtic fire festivals, is celebrated. It marks the halfway point between the spring equinox and summer solstice—an in-between moment where things feel alive and full of potential.

Traditionally, Beltane was about fertility and protection—bonfires were lit, cattle driven between the flames to bless them for the months ahead, and people celebrated the fertility of the land and their own connections with each other. These days, most of us don’t live by the seasons in quite the same way, but there’s still something in this time that pulls us toward warmth, growth, and connection.

Simple ways to celebrate Beltane (without needing a maypole or a bonfire)

• Spend time outside - Even a few minutes outdoors can be grounding. Observe what’s shifted in your local landscape. Look for blooming flowers, early roses, cow parsley, or whatever’s growing wild around you. Let yourself connect with the land in a direct, sensory way. Take your shoes off and feel your feet on the ground. Let it be simple—just a chance to pay attention and be present.

• Honour your body - This could mean dancing, stretching, swimming, resting, touching, or simply offering it kindness. Beltane invites us to reconnect with the body not as a project, but as a home.

• Light a candle - Beltane is a fire festival, but you don’t need a full blaze to honour it. Lighting a single candle in the evening, maybe with the window cracked open to let in the night air, can feel just as meaningful.

• Make space for joy or connection - This might be time with friends, some music and dancing in your kitchen, or a walk where you let your thoughts drift. Beltane reminds us that joy and connection don’t have to be big or performative—just real.

• Check in with what feels alive for you - What’s growing in your life right now? Not in a goal-setting way, but in an intuitive one. Are there ideas, relationships, or parts of yourself that are ready for more space? More light? Beltane is a good time to notice where the energy is and follow it.

A time to notice

Like many of the celebrations we see throughout of the wheel of the year, Beltane offers a moment to pause and notice what’s happening—both around you and within you. It doesn’t ask for much. Just a bit of presence. A bit of warmth. Maybe a few flowers in a jar on your table, a window open to the birdsong, or a quiet walk where you take the long way home.

There’s something reassuring about marking these moments, even in small ways. They remind us that the year keeps turning, that we’re part of something larger and older than our to-do lists, and that it’s okay to lean into the seasons—especially the ones that invite us to grow, connect, and come fully into the light.

So wherever you are, and however you find yourself this season, may you take a moment to mark it. To step outside. To breathe in the blossom. To remember you are alive—and that is worth celebrating.