Merry Beltane 2013

Upon returning home last night in the early hours of the morning and after 5 hours of being cramped up in a bus, I instantly fell asleep but with a smile on my face and many new memories to cherish. I was again amazed by the hospitality of my fellow Pagans :D It's amazing how people want and can help out other human beings :) I didn't go hungry (on the contrary!) and had a warm, soft bed to sleep in. It was truly wonderful. But the real memories were made during the second day of my stay in Zagreb when the Beltane ritual itself was held :D

The preparations were long and tiring; wood was cut for the fire and the maypole, flowers were picked for garlands and other decorations, ribbons were made for the maypole, the land itself was prepared for our work etc. But everything was worth it in the end. The moment in which we all got together in the circle and opened it...just amazing! The energy was bound to be very strong since there was about thirty five of us.

I don't plan to write out the whole ritual here. In stead, I will post a few pictures since each of them is worth a thousand words, and will definitely speak out more eloquently than I could ever manage :)

This is a view of the area in which we held the
ritual (and "after-party"). Though everything
was already set up here so you can get a fuller
impression :)

Of course, work had to be divided so the men went out to get
firewood and to cut down the tree for the maypole. They also
had to bring it back to the ritual space, which wasn't an easy
job, but it was worth it :D

While the men did physical work, we women were busy with a
slightly easier form of manual labor :) we made the decorations (in
this case, the ribbons for the maypole).

And I was also busy making the garland for the
Priestess, but it unfortunately withered due to
the sun and lack of water :/ 

There HAS to be food! We had "happy porridge"
on the menu but don't think that this is all the 40 of us
had to eat :) this photo was taken during the preparations :)

The star of this Sabbat was this little darling whose
mommy and daddy dressed all in green so he could
be a fitting symbol for this Sabbat :D

What made this Sabbat incredibly special was the fact that we
had a band that I have to give credit to because they were
AMAZING!!! They are called the Tribal Jam Orchestra and play
a variety of instruments, from west African drums, didgeridoos, gongs and
many wind instruments to the hapi drum. They really made a huge
difference and helped raise the energy during the ritual but also
during our dancing around the fire :) Of course, I can't
forget the link to their youtube channel :D

Our dear Priest and Priestess were in a
wonderful mood and lead the ritual wonderfully.
The energies were high and carried us all into an ecstasy,
even though this may not be visible on the above picture
since it was taken at the very beginning of the ritual where
we were admitted into the circle
one by one.

I really like the altar, but since it was quite big,
it was hard to fill with decorations and ended
up giving off quite a minimalistic impression.

And here's a photo that was taken during the preparations for
dancing around the maypole.

And, of course, the dancing itself :) which was
quite funny at this point since we were all
squished together because we had so little room
to dance in. We crashed into each other and laughed
but everything turned out great!

You can see how nice the maypole turned out :)
at least in my opinion ^^ but the ribbons were
made with love and care so it couldn't have
turned out badly :D

Since the grown-ups didn't get to finish the maypole dance since
we were too big, the children did it for us :D They were wonderful
to watch running around and dancing to our dear Tribal Jam
Orchestra who were very diligent and played from 2 in the afternoon
until 11 in the night. These two groups really made the ritual
special and gave it a dose of spontaneity and freedom
that everyone seemed to like :D

We finished the ritual and now the party could start :D The fire
was lit and we started to dance, sing and be merry.

The music simply took over all of us and carried us into a trance which
was UNBELIEVABLE!!! Some even commented feeling like they
were in a sort of primordial state...like they were back in the
caves dancing to shaman drums (which were also played by the way) ;)
The band did their job and much much more than that!

I also got carried away with the music and took
part in the drumming :D And in time, as you can see, the photos
got blurrier and blurrier....

....and blurrier...

I hope I managed to give you at least a slight impression of what what the atmosphere was like during the whole day and that the atmosphere in your celebration was equally as nice if not better :) Of course, my merriment didn't end there since I stayed in Zagreb one more day which i spent with my dear friends and allowed myself a day of rest :)

Thanks to all of my friends who were there with me and with which I shared these beautiful moments...they will know who they are :)

I wish you all a merry Beltane. May the rest of the year be fruitful in all the aspects of your lives! 

Blessed be!
Yours, 

Witch's Cat