Beltane Embroidery

1^st May was the festivity of Beltane or May Day. Beltane is a pagan festivity in which we celebrate the union of the God and the Goddess. The God, born in Yule, is now a young man and the Goddess is ready to become pregnant again after giving birth to the God. God and Goddess celebrate their union and Goddess become pregnant (she will give birth in Yule). It is one of the fire festivals. In the celtic costumes it was a festivity dedicated to the god Belenus. Fires are lit and people go around and over them as a sign of purification.

The most popular of this festivity is the May Pole. That is a stick or pole (phallic symbol representing the God) in which ribbons are attached to the top. Ribbons are normally red and white representing the transition of the Goddess from Maiden (white) to Mother (red). People hold a ribbon each and dance around the pole, representing the union of the God and the Goddess.

I continued stitching the Sabbat serie I am doing. This time I didn’t have time to finish in time the Primitive Hare’s design and I will be stitching it during the month of May.

The CTHdesign for Beltane was more complicated than the previous I did, it has a lot of “confetti” and colors are very similar, but finally I finished it.

I also stitched something that is not part of the Beltane decoration but it is part of my pagan embroideries and for that reason I would like to show it here. It is small embroidery with the words “Blessed Be”. I finished it with an oval open card in cream color and I am keeping it at the main home entrance to bless people who come home.