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Beltane, the eve of the first day of May, “May Day”, is the time of the Sacred Marriage between the Goddess and God. This time is considered to be highly sacred, along with Samhain. Due to the sacred implications of the marriage, couples were not to wed during this time, which some believe to think led to June being the month to marry, since they were not able to marry during May. Spring is at its peak of fertility and life, when the flowers are in bloom and about to start fruiting. As with other times of the year, Beltane marks a time to perform sympathetic magic.

 The Marriage between the God and Goddess is a sacred union of spirit, the act of love, the symbology of fertility and production of life, be it plant or animal. Part of the importance of this comes in the impregnation of the Goddess with the Sun God, giving birth to him at Yule and to produce her earthly crops. With spring in it’s zenith, the cycles of life are again assured.

 As the old customs of choosing the “May Queen and King” are continuations of the recognition of the union between the God and Goddess. The chosen King and Queen would, at one time, go into the fields to bless the crops and to bring forth life and prosperity. There are direct connections to sympathetic magic, the sexual union between the King and Queen with the seeds being planted into the earth, the joining and marriage of the God and Goddess.

 Maypoles are another ceremony performed at Beltane. Not only is this just plain fun, dancing and singing around the pole, the weaving of the ribbons is the weaving of the web of life. Maypoles were used as a fertility rite, with the phallic shaped pole decorated with ribbons and flowers. Again, the display of the phallic pole, semen flowing, ribbons fertilizing the earth. There are various views on the symbology of the Maypole, but from the ones I have heard and know, they refer back to the continuation of the life cycle of birth, life, death, and re-birth.