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May 1, 2009

Friday

Today is Beltane, also known as May Eve, May Day, and Walpurgis Night. It celebrates the height of Spring and the flowering of life. The Goddess manifests as the May Queen and Flora. The God emerges as the May King and Jack in the Green. The danced Maypole represents Their unity, with the pole itself being the God and the ribbons that encompass it, the Goddess. Colors are the Rainbow spectrum. Beltane is a festival of flowers, fertility, sensuality, and delight.

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Jeff R.: Cultural Anthropology 101

"So you all tie ribbons to this pole, and then dance in circles around it?"

"That's right. But don't leave out the Morris Dancing, or the crowning of the May Queen. Plus there's the bonfire. Not a proper Walpurgis without a nice, big bonfire."

"And this is a fertility ritual...?"

"Oh, yes. Yes indeed. The town's always littered with the babbies three seasons on, if it's done right."

"And this is because of the symbolic unification of the God and the Goddess during the dancing."

"Sure, sure. Well, that and that we all go home and shag like minks afterward."

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