MAY DAY CELEBRATION: BELTANE

MAY DAY PAGAN AND CATHOLIC CELEBRATION!

1962-2017 Wiccan Sister Rainy'

My love for May Day began in grammar school, but it took on a deeper meaning later when I became a Wiccan. 

As a devoted Goddess Daughter, I began celebrating the old pagan way: Beltane (also known as Bealtaine). 

For Pagans, this holiday marks the sacred union of the God and Goddess, where masculine and feminine energies meet in equal power. 

We honor this divine partnership through fertility rites, fire festivals, and the traditional dance around the Maypole.

Our coven celebrated in our spring finery, immersing ourselves in nature as we danced and sang around the Maypole. 

Adorned in our spring finery, the coven celebrated amidst the beauty of nature. We danced around a Maypole tree and sang to the Goddess and God of fertility, envisioning our dreams taking root and blooming into a colorful abundance of summer fruits and vegetables.

My favorite Catholic celebration ritual began in grammar school, was the May Day celebration held in our parish church.

The girls in their floral crowns and pretty dresses, the boys all spruced up in their Sunday best, and ready for the day.

One year, my young sister was chosen by her peers to crown a large statue of Mary, Our Lady. 

It was a real honor in the parish and to her family. 

I loved this day so much that I wrote a chapter of it in my novel, The Skye in June. 

Only in that chapter, all hell breaks loose after the church festivities.

Here's an excerpt from the chapter. I hope you enjoy it. You can read more about my book on Amazon.com

Chapter 26

May Day 1960

The warm spring day of the first of May 1960 would certainly prove to be an unforgettable 

day for the entire family, in one way or another. The entire month of May, which is dedicated 

Honoring Our Lady, the Blessed Mother of God, commences with a festive Mass on the first 

Sunday of the month. It is one of the most beautiful and joyful celebrations in Catholicism and 

was June’s favorite religious event. As part of the Mass, an eighth-grade girl, chosen by her 

peers, crowns the statue of Our Lady. The honor went to Maggie. Her sisters agreed that, after

all her heavy campaigning, she deserved it. 

***

The church was transformed into a heavenly garden filled abundantly with fresh, colorful spring 

flowers emitting sweet scents. After the congregation settled into the pews, the procession started 

with the Monsignor walking down the main aisle sprinkling holy water over the parishioners. 

Behind him came both of the parish priests in pristine white and gold vestments, flanked by several 

altar boys. Once they were all assembled in the sanctuary, the organist heralded in the children. 

Boys and girls in their respective lines came through the front doors to parade around the church 

on opposite sides. The girls were dressed in a rainbow of pastel dresses with wreaths of garden 

flowers adorning their hair. The boys had their hair neatly slicked down and wore crisp white 

shirts and dark pants.

As the lines snaked around the pews, the children sang in harmony praises to God’s mother. 

“Oh, Mary, we crown you with blossoms today. Queen of the angels, Queen of May.”

When the children finally settled into the first rows of pews, the eighth-grade girl chosen to 

crown Our Lady would enter the church. As the organist began to play “Ave Maria,” heads 

craned backward to watch the chosen one walk down the aisle.

Beautiful as a spring goddess, Maggie, poised between the church’s heavy wooden doors, waited 

to allow time for the parishioners to view her. A murmur of appreciation spread throughout the 

church. 

In a periwinkle-blue gown, holding a wreath of delicate white roses cut from the MacDonald’s 

garden,  she gracefully glided down the burgundy-carpeted aisle toward a life-size statue of Our 

Lady, who waits to be crowned by the maiden. So lovely was the honored maiden that no one 

would have guessed that only an hour earlier, she had been involved in a fight with her sister.

After the ceremony, parishioners spilled out of the church into the warming May Day, eager to get 

to breakfast. Jimmy emerged, gripping his Kodak Brownie camera and squinting into the sunlight. 

He looked out into the group of people. “Do you see her?” he asked Cathy.

Cathy spied Maggie with Mother Superior and the Monsignor. The rotund priest had his 

arm loosely around her shoulders, leaning down into her face, smiling and talking.
…

The loud voices of children squealing and singing interrupted the conversation. They looked 

over to the schoolyard to see a group of young girls dancing around a basketball pole, holding the 

various colors of streaming ribbons are attached to it. Cathy’s attention went to the bright red hair 

flying around the circle. Her heart sank. It has to be June, she thought. Mary mumbled, “Oh-oh.”

Monsignor inquired, hesitatingly, “Mother Superior, what’s going on over there?”

“I don’t know,” she sputtered nervously, licking her lips, uncertain if she, the Mother Superior of 

Holy Savior School was guilty of some sin.

  To be con't in The Skye in June.

Read more about me and my other books at www.juneahern.com  

Available through my website, Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and your favorite bookstore.
My Books:
How to Talk With Spirits: Seances, Mediums, Ghost Hunts
City of Redemption
The Timeless Counselor: The Best Guide to a Psychic Reading.