Beltane

[truailligh]

Who: truailligh ; open
What: Celebrating Bealltainn*
Where: Plaza near the gardens
When: May 1st, after nightfall
Note: * Scottish Gaelic spelling of Beltane

Comments

[meitori]

Yuuta came upon the bonfires, curious about why someone would be lighting them. He had a feeling that someone was celebrating something, and it almost felt like O-ban, but it was... Western magic, Western culture. Coming up to Shirley as she passed through the fires, he gave her a polite bow.

"Hello. What are you doing, if you don't mind me asking?"

[truailligh]

Where she sat at the opposite end of the path, she looked up and nodded, attention diverted from the fires beyond the heat they were casting off in her direction, the pungent scent of the juniper carried in the night air.

Celebrating Beltane, she thought back as her answer, the first day of summer in Scotland. In the past cattle were walked between the two fires and it's a time of purification and transition. You herald the new season, hope for a good harvest. It's also for protection from harm against otherworldy spirits.

That part was not of great concern to her because she wasn't doing this for the same reason that normal people had done it hundreds of years ago or even today but protection from anything Promenade might throw in her path would be nice.

(oopse forgot about the teneka)

[meitori]

Ah, he thought back. We have a similar event back home, but I guess it's more of a fall celebration, but we do a lot of purification rituals then.

Approaching the bonfire, he smiled at the flame and heat. The juniper was an odd smell, but he figured that it was part of the ritual.

We have a lot of festivals where we light bonfires and make signs on the mountain sides, and light paper lanterns to guide spirits to the afterlife."

[truailligh]

I have Samhain then - it's on October 31st, the opposite of today. It's dedicated to harveset and the dead. She hated the Halloween aspect of it but Samhain was always special, always a time to eat with her family at the dinner table, her grandfather there too and with a place set out for her grandmother, telling old stories of the family line.

When he approached the fires, she motioned to the path between them. When people pass through them, it's meant to purify them. I don't know how much I honestly believe in that, which was a lie but she didn't know this stranger and the personal connection to this ritual, especially after what had transpired left her more guarded than normal, but that's what all the old stories say.

She nodded at that. I think I've seen some of those when I was at university. The lanterns that is. A lot of us didn't know what they were when we first saw them but we ended up finding out later. It's good to know I'm not the only one who celebrates old things they were they were celebrated years and years

[meitori]

Ah, I have heard of that one. It's basically the original holiday Halloween came from.

He easily walked in between the bonfires, having helped light many of them before. They weren't strange to him at all, unlike other cultures who didn't make them. Well, it depends upon you. Where I come from, we all believe that water and fire can purify you, or help with that.

Yeah. My family and I light a few for our ancestors whenever the occasion calls for it. There are a lot of old traditions that are still alive, even though my generation is becoming more 'modernized'.

[truailligh]

More or less.

If she was still here for Halloween though, she'd be keeping herself to herself because the dressing up in costumes was just insulting, people who had no idea what the holiday even meant. She might carve herself a turnip lantern though. Or dream one up. Dreaming would be easier, less effort and mess involved.

The modernising happened a long time ago where I'm from outside of a very few places and then it's more confined to individual families. People still do things but it's because they've always done them, not because they believe or care or even remember the reason for it.

[meitori]

Because we've always done them is a part of traditions, but my grandmother always made sure we knew why, Yuuta commented. Lighting lanterns guide spirits to the afterlife, purifying yourself before you go into a shrine ensures that you don't displease the kami or make the shrine susceptible to attacks from demons.

Really, it was a shame that so many other traditions from so many other places had fallen to modernization and misunderstandings. From what he knew, many people in the United States used their Independence Day as an excuse to party and get drunk. Not to remember what it took to gain freedom.

[truailligh]

I never knew my grandmother, she said, at least not in the real world; Otherworld she could see her as often as she pleased but that wasn't always wholly her, that was a banshee and it would still have an agenda. But traditions in my family have been passed down from mother to daughter for as far back as the family tree goes and we've always been very good at keeping records on mum's side. Kami would be Gods though?

It was always death that was most respected though and that was something she was always glad for. Her part was announcing it, not the aftermath, that was a duty for another but it was still good to know that things found their way to where they were meant to go.

[meitori]

Yes, kami are gods as my people know them, or basically any spirit of nature. Even humans can become one, he said. From their sun goddess to Mount Fuji to an ancient tree on a shrine. We have a saying that there is eight million of them because of that. What sort of traditions do you practice?

Death was something Yuuta would never take lightly, not after having brushed up against it so many times in his relatively short life.

[truailligh]

There's Imbolc or St Brigid's Day on February first and it's a festival of hearth and home and Lughnasadh on August first which is a harvest festival. Those two combined with the other two make up cross quarter holidays. Lughnasadh is from the God Lugh; it's a funeral feast for his mother who died of exhaustion after she cleared the plains of Ireland for agriculture. Imbolc celebrates the lengthening days and the coming of spring. She didn't do much for Imbolc here, too caught up in the newness of Promenade and finding her feet but she did pray to Brigid to watch over her and keep herself.

Prayers don't seem to reach the Gods so well here.

Hogmanay sort of counts. It's new years eve in Scotland and you have a party and you can first foot someone - you take something like food or a drink and everyone sings Auld Lang Syne after the bells.

[meitori]

We have so many festivals through out the year, it kind of depends upon whether you feel the need to celebrate it or if it's a tradition in your area to celebrate it. Sometimes, there are festivals that are exclusive to one town or city.

The Star festival was coming later in the summer, and then there was Buddha's birthday... and then Obon after that.

Auld Lang Syne? It sounds vaguely familiar.

[truailligh]

It's all the Wiccans and Neo-Pagans that celebrate them and they get it horribly wrong. It left a bitter taste in her mouth, thinking about those idiots who didn't know a damn thing about it, who had no ties to anything that they said they believed in.

Auld Lang Syne is a poem Robert Burns wrote. I won't try to sing it in my head because I'm sure that would sound entirely hideous but it starts 'should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, or auld lang syne? The auld lang syne means something along the lines of long, long ago or days gone by. They sing it all over the world now.

[meitori]

It's like those who become obsessed with Japanese culture because it's becoming popular thanks to anime, Yuuta said, patting her shoulder. They think they know it, but they do not, and they cannot, because as we say over there, 'they are not Japanese'. This is not saying that no one outside of Japan can understand it, but our traditions do not have the same meaning to them.

Ah, now I recall it. We use the tune in various things, usually graduation ceremonies. Many other countries use it in lots of other occasions, such as New Years.

[truailligh]

I think my brother's into anime. Or some anime stuff - that and video games because he's a very tragic geek when no one is around to see him. But she loved her brother all the same. Sometimes there are things that people can't understand because it's so ingrained in you that you can't even explain it. Something you feel right here. She pressed one of her hands to her chest. It's in your heart and soul and right down into the marrow of your bones. It's just you.

They do a thing on the telly sometimes and it shows you clips from all around the world when it's New Year there and it's so strange, hearing it spread all that way when you know that there have to be plenty of people who don't understand the words at all.

[meitori]

Yuuta nodded. Her mentioning her brother reminded him of his own: Haruto, who had dreams of becoming a philanthropist, Sora, who was a bookworm, and Minato, who was probably going to be a famous sports athlete.

I think most cultures feel that way when they talk about something that is important to them as a society or group, like those giant burial mounds in America or like for you, Beltane. But it is nice when people are aware of at least basic aspects of your culture and are respectful of it, even though it's probably stereotypical. I'd probably avoid bars and pubs if I ever go to Scotland. You have a subculture in those places, don't you?

Well, it's not like we can't look up the words and find out the meaning of it. We have just adapted it to something that is special to us. And as long as it stays true to the song, then isn't that the best thing a song can do? Be flexible and allow everyone to enjoy it.

[truailligh]

It depends what part of Scotland you're in and what part of the city. Some areas have heavy student populations, not just from all over Scotland or the UK but all over the world. Some have the old-fashioned working mans pub where they have the footie on all the time. I wouldn't say to avoid them though; you get a real feel for an area if you go.

Hazards of being an English student. It's like when I see 'ye olde' written anywhere I want to scream and hit someone.