Beltain Festival, Portland OR
This is a spontaneous parade celebrating Beltain or the Midpoint between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice. It’s a Celtic holiday and is usually celebrated on or about May 1. We’re on our way to do the May Pole dance.
Here is more about the celebration:
The second largest and most important festival, great tribal gatherings
Old Irish “Beletene” means “bright fire”
Gaelic “Bealtaine” means the month of May
Celtic word Beltaine mean fires of Bel
“Light of the Earth”
Time of rebirth
House fires were extinquished and relit from hilltop bonfires
Need-fires are built, walk between for purification
Bonfires of sacred wood are lit in honor of the Celtic god Beli
The veil between worlds (Shield of Skathach) is thin, allowing faeiries to
cross over
Evolved into May Day
I met a woman in the neighborhood about a month ago and she told me that she has hosted this event for the past 11 years. It’s a family affair in true Portland style. We went back to her house to enjoy food, drink, and music, while the kids played in the streets. I made some new friends (many of didn’t live in the area and rode over on bikes, kids included). There was a fire later, with s’mores and when I left at 10:30, the party was still going on.
The musicians play for the revelers. “Over, under, over, under”
Head wreath making
