Yesterday I attended our local grove's Beltaine ritual. The ritual was held on the property owned by my family and the Celtic pantheon was honored. The ritual was in ADF Core Order and written by a local grove member. The text was posted on Facebook a week prior; I was quite happy to be able to see the text in advance of the ritual.
Prior to the ritual I chose to recite the portion that honored Aine. I don't feel particularly in tune with the Celtic pantheon, and choosing to hallow the tree or honor the Earth Mother would have been much easier for me...but that would have felt like a cop-out. So I specifically chose the portion concerning Aine to force me to really focus on an unfamiliar deity and stay present in the ritual.
The weather during the ritual was its own force to be reckoned with; despite the date of May 4th the temperature was barely 40 degrees, and with a 20 mph north wind and with misty conditions the windchill was well below the comfort zone. Plus, the strong wind made it a struggle to keep the fire going. There was a bit of irony in the traditional language of the ritual, which mentioned the warming sun of spring and the coming of summer. Staying on task during the ritual definitely felt like a struggle and required all present to be alert and mindful.
This was the first ritual I have attended which used ogham for the omens. The ritual organizer is still in the beginning phases of learning the ogham, so that portion of the ritual was a bit clunky.
After a brief warming period inside after the ritual, we came together again to attempt a Maypole dance in honor of the season. While the results were questionably authentic we had much fun in the activity.
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