DANCING AT DAWN TO CELEBRATE BELTANE - THURSDAY 1 MAY 2008

'May Day' has always been a significant day in the calendar with celebrations held all over Dartmoor and indeed many other parts of the world. The roots of May Day can be found deep into the pagan beliefs in the form of Beltane, a festival which occurs from the 30th of April to the 1st of May. Beltane is a Celtic word meaning the 'fires of Bel'  and Bel was a Celtic deity. It is a fire festival that celebrates of the coming of summer, of light, warmth and the fertility of the coming year. Celtic festivals often tied in with the needs of the community. In spring time, at the beginning of the farming calendar, everybody would be hoping for a fruitful year for their families and fields. many customs centre around flowers, greenery (hence the Green Man) and at one time the 'hobby-horse', probably the most pagan of the May Day symbols..! Incidentally, six months after Beltane is the celtic festival of Samhain, or summer's end, and the start of 6 months of cold and darkness. Many regard it as the Celtic new year and it is closely linked to what we now call Halloween.

To give you an idea of the range of May Day celebrations that used to (in fact many still occur) around Dartmoor, here's a selection: In Moretonhampstead and Meavy celebrations would centre around the 'Dancing Tree'. In Lustleigh, they'd always have a May Queen celebration. In Holne they'd have a May Day Ram Roast. Try the Legendary Dartmoor website at http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/may_day.htm for more information.

This May Day we returned to Dartmoor to dance at dawn up on Haytor and were joined by local side Grimspound. We gathered at around 5:00am in the twilight, with fog clinging to the great dark mass of Haytor Rocks. Here's a selection of photos of the event....

Shortly after 5am facing eastwards towards where we hoped the sun would rise...

Huntress, a dance in which n*ked witches run across the moor

Cat and Maddy. Looks like the fog over Haytor is starting to clear

If Devon County Council Transport Dept had some strange traffic count activity at around 5:30am, we can confirm that it was definitely Grimspound Morris and not a herd of rare Dartmoor Wildebeast! 

Cat looking very seasonal...

Mass Tinners with Grimspound.. 'Tinners Rabbits' are an ancient symbol that were used by Dartmoor Tin Miners.

Beltane!

Linda with the sunrise

It took a while to come, but here it is again...

Breakfast! Linda helping out Dave and his wife cook an amazing breakfast!