Young Celts' fancies

In the good old days in the Scottish Highlands, youngsters took their clans' sheep and cattle into pastures far up the surrounding slopes as the weather warmed. There they'd frolic through the summer, out of sight of their elders. And down in the glens, you can bet, their elders took advantage of this newfound privacy, too.

Fooling around, finding out about love ... once they reached "that age," they knew what opportunities warm weather would bring. They knew what Beltane was all about.

The traditional song "Wild Mountain Thyme" celebrates this free, unfettered approach to sex and love. At first the sentiment isn't much different than a typical Beatles song:

I will build my love a bower
By the pure crystal fountain
And on it I will pile
All the flowers of the mountains

Sweet, isn't it? But then, after a short chorus, we find out it what's really going on.

And if my love should leave me
I will surely find another
To pick wild mountain thyme
All around the blooming heather

"I will surely find another." Strange thing to find in any love song we'd hear today. But that's love as nature made it. No hangups, no taboos, no malarkey about soul mates. Just the excitement of intimacy, the immediacy of chemistry.

To us, this is the force that Beltane celebrates. Despite our window dressing of civilized behavior and elaborate courtship rituals, we are all animals and really nothing more. And we're subject to the same natural forces as the sheep and the cattle and the blooming heather.

We've been observing Beltane for years, so we know not everyone sees the holiday the same way. What does Beltane mean to you? Does it mean anything at all, for that matter, or is it just another excuse for a party? There's no harm in that. That's life as it's meant to be lived. That's love as it really is.

So thank you all for joining us Saturday night. We hope you had a love-ly time ... if you know what we mean (wink wink).

Thanks to Chris for providing the art accompanying this entry. Go to his link on FB or contact us to see more photos of the gathering. And a thousand thanks to Steph and Sean and Glimpse of Gaia for a bounty of botany including the roses 'round the tiki torch in Chris's photo.

'Twixt equinox and solstice

Here's this year's Beltane announcement. Emails soon to follow.

You'll notice we plan a humble celebration and potluck. It's a gathering for gathering's sake, nothing quite so dramatic as Samhain. And to let our hostess save her strength for her celebrated spread in October, we hope you'll feel inclined to pitch in something to eat or drink.

If you have a musical instrument, something to drum on, something your friends might enjoy, something to burn - bring it along. Be sure to dress for the weather, bonfire smoke and all the usual hazards.

As always, we're open to new ideas and music. Email us. There's no suggestion too trivial.

You know where, of course. Now you know when. It'll break our hearts if we don't see you there.