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Bealtainne FestivalThe festival begins at dawn and runs until late evening. It consists of a morning ceremony, potluck breakfast, afternoon games and lunch on the grill, the sacrifice, and the evening ceremony. Materials List
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MORNING CEREMONYSMUDGER shall perform a smudging ceremony on all present. WINDS shall greet the winds: (lights incense) (faces east) I greet the purple winds of the east, the place of sacred energies. May you bring us protection. (faces south) I greet the black winds of the south, the place of battle. May you bring us strength. (faces west) I greet the brown winds of the west, the place of death. May you bring us learning and knowledge. (faces north) I greet the white winds of the north, the place of music and prosperity. May you bring us poetry and plenty. Two cauldrons for fire are prepared, one in the east and one in the west. The cauldrons shall contain our nine sacred woods: oak, juniper, pecan, willow, pine, holly, cottonwood, mesquite, and elm. FTM and FTM will be fire tenders on each cauldron and LCM and LCW shall be lead chanters on each cauldron. RIGH shall capture the flame of the sun. At sunrise, as the rays creep across the horizon, the fires shall be kindled with all present chanting into the fires: Trinity Builds It, Bile Feeds It RIGH shall capture the rays of the sun and place them into the fire. RIGH shall then lead the group between the fires then circle three times deosil around the pair of cauldrons (to provide purification and protection). Candles will be provided to each person to take a piece of the need-flame home to rekindle their hearth fires. The flames of the morning fire shall be tended all day and through the evening ceremony. A potluck breakfast now follows. AFTERNOON EVENTSOne person shall be required to tend the fire each hour during the daytime: schedule is forthcoming. Activities will also be scheduled for during the day.
EVENING EVENTSSacrificial Ceremony - 6:30pmSACRIFICER shall perform the symbolic sacrifice. SACRIFICER carries the bannock bag around the participating group. The person who draws the charred piece of bannock must leap over the fire three times as the symbolic sacrifice to the land. Evening Ceremony - 7:30pmHOST lights the Lamp of Hospitality: Three cauldrons exist in every fort. The cauldron of motion, the cauldron of warming and the cauldron of guests. Tonight, I light the Lamp of Hospitality which contains all three and welcome you among us. (lights lamp) ANCESTORS greets the ancestors: (faces west) I call from the high road down the lowroad to our ancestors and beckon you to come forth. I call to you and request your presence. May you meet us here at the crossroads and join us in our ceremony. FAIRIES shall honor the fairies, while LAND circles around her offering tobacco to the land spirits. FAIRIES says: (holds cup high) To the fairy realm above the earth (holds cup down low) To the fairy realm below the earth. To the spirits of this land. May you accept this libation of milk and join us here tonight. (pours milk over the stone) FILIDH then recites the story of the Tuatha De Danaan's landing in Eire or another story related to the Beltane season: "The Coming the Tuatha De Danaan" (from The Book of Conquests by Jim Fitzpatrick) On the eve of Beltane, the sacred feast day of the god Bel, I Tuan, the great sea-eagle, rose before the sun and sailed the clear high air over Connemara. Thunder clouds weighed heavy on the mountains; strange mists curled from the lakes and rivers hiding the sight of their land from the gaze of the Fir Bolg and Eochai, their king. Even I, Tuan, felt the cold heartbeat of fear as the skies grew pale. I soared upward from the doom-laden veils of mist. As I broke the cloud I saw them. Sailing the winds above the purple mountains of Connemara, and beyond through the high air and low air that rose and blew among the Red Hills of Rein, was a great fleet. Shrouded by magic mists, borne on strong winds, the Tuatha De Danaan came in their great mystical ships, raven emblazoned sails at full stretch. Beneath the sky of stars the truth is not known whether they were of the heaven or the earth, sons of demons or of men. On my curved wings I flew with the enchanted ships and I sang my song of greeting I invoke the name of Nemed, Now pride, not fear, pulsed in my heart keeping time with the drumbeat of the oars. Bright standards and silken banners coloured like all the flowers of the world flew from their mastheads in the high air. So I saw the coming of the long ships of the Tuatha De Danaan into the valleys of Connacht. Each one was hung with magical shields and their sides painted with oghams. The sun, hidden from the Fir Bolg, rose high to touch the armour of these painted strangers with fire and life. For the black sailed ships did not come from the land of death but were driven by the strength and magic skill of mortal men, hereos the like of whom have not been seen in the land of Eirean before or since. A thousand heroes and their followers came with that fleet to Eireann. At their head was a warrior king, a flame haired giant who stood against the sun, his colored, checquered cloak billowing in the restless wind. This was Nuada, King of the Tuatha De Danaan. I, Tuan, eagle and story bearer, flew with Nuada and his longships above the purple hills of Connemara and at last came to rest with them against the Red Hills of Connacht. And here Nuada would remain king until his arm was rested from his body at the first battle of Mag Tured. Then, in recognition of the Righ's marriage to the land, a gauntlet shall be formed. At one end of the gauntlet shall be the three aspects of Brighid: BL as the Goddess of the Land, BH as the Goddess of the Hearth, and BP as the Goddess of Poetry. Next - and at the head of the gauntlet - shall be SEED1 and SEED2 with the seed bag. At the end of the gauntlet shall be the Righ. FILIDH, as clan bard, shall give recognition to the Righ and call the Righ forward. As RIGH walks the gauntlet, all present will feed sexual, fertile energy into her, that the Righ may bring fertility to the land. Once the RIGH reaches the Land Goddess (BL) the other two aspects (BH and BP) shall move to kneel on either side of her and take her energy and begin feeding it back out into the land. RIGH shall take her sword and drive it into the ground at the Goddess' feet, and ask the land goddess to recognize the Righ of the land. It is through her blessings that the Righ shall bring blessings upon the tribe. SEED1 and SEED2 step forth and hold a sack of corn seed over the kneeling Righ. BL shall lean forward and withdraw the dagger from RIGH's hip. She then cuts the bag of seed over RIGH's back, letting it spill to the earth. The final infertility caused by Cailleach is banished and fertility has spilled upon the land. BL then places the dagger in the ground next to the sword, and embraces the Righ as her companion. RIGH shall then invite all to Feast. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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