So far, everything, almost every word, remained the same, and Crowe’s stomach sank.
“But since we have so many new guests this year, I’ll take a moment to explain what Beltane is. There are four great festivalsof the Celtic Pagan year, and most modern witches celebrate these.
“The two greatest are Samhain, or Halloween on October thirty-first, which ushers in the beginning of winter, and the second is six months later, Beltane or May Day, which ushers in the beginning of summer. Being opposite on the wheel of the year, they separate the year into halves. Some consider Samhain the more important of the two since it’s considered the beginning of the Celtic New Year. But May Day runs a close second.
Rayna piped up. “Some places, notably Wales, even consider May Day to be the greatest holiday.”
“Right,” Joell said. “Here at the League, we celebrate jubilantly at this time of year and more reverently at Samhain. The month of May was named in honor of the Goddess, Maia. She was originally a Greek Mountain nymph and was considered the most beautiful of her seven sisters. She has since earned the title of Earth Goddess.
She cleared her throat and continued. “The Maypole represents the male phallus. It must be planted in Mother Earth for the joyful dance to begin. The dance represents the precursor to sexual intercourse, which is required to bring forth human life.
“The word ‘Beltane’ refers to the great Bel Fire, the fire of the God of Light, Bel, and he can be traced to the Middle Eastern God Baal. We may not have a big bonfire now, but we’ll light one outdoors later. Right now, we’re here in theBallroom.”
Some people tittered at that, probably knowing what a ball they were going to have as soon as Joell stopped talking.
“In many ancient cultures, a young maiden of the village was selected to be the May Queen. Various ways to represent the great joining have been invented, but the original versioninsisted on the May Queen being fucked by every man in the village.”
Great cheers went up as she spoke those words.
I felt like crying. If Joell wanted to play the May Queen, I would definitely lose my cool.
“If the maiden was impregnated, the child of the May Queen was called a Beltane Baby and was considered a very lucky child. Because no one knew who the father was, the entire village raised the child. Fortunately, we Ladies of the Law are all on the Pill!”
That got a laugh, and grins grew wide on everyone’s faces.
“Unfortunately, there isn’t a virgin in the lot of us, so we won’t bother trying to find a May Queen.”
A few people glanced over at Katie, our teenage witchlet, and she blushed.
“Take heart. All is not lost! There’s another way people celebrated the great rite, which was just as popular.”
You could have heard a pin drop.
“On Beltane night, those who wished to participate in the ritual wandered into the woods to fornicate with whomever they wished. Long after the Christian form of marriage, insisting on sexual monogamy, had replaced older Pagan customs. The rules of strict fidelity were always relaxed for the Mayday rites.
“These wildwood antics have inspired writers such as Kipling. Here are his words:
‘Oh, do not tell the Priest our light,
Or he would call it sin;
But we have been out in the woods all night,
A-conjuring Summer in!’”
Someone from the back of the hall yelled, “So hurry up and let us get it on!”
Joell chuckled and said, “I will. I promise, but there’s one more ritual I want to mention before we start. It has to do with the old hand-fasting custom.”
My ears tingled. I hadn’t heard of any hand-fasting on Beltane.
“Those who feel they want to celebrate but want to make love with one other person exclusively will find the highest point on a hill and will celebrate with each other all night long. In the morning, they are considered off-limits to others and waiting to be hand-fasted. There are a lot of hilltops here in these mountains!”
Crowe glanced around and saw Rayna and Major Payne grinning at each other. Chad and Brianna were also holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes.
Then Joell looked at Crowe and said, “Crowe?” She extended her hands. Without standing, he reached out and took both her hands in his.
He gulped and hoped his voice didn’t come out as a squeak. “Yes, love?”
