Beltane 2012

Once again we’ve paid our respects to the age old tra­di­tion of Beltane, this year at Steam­boat Rock State Park. Early May is still a cold and soggy time of year in the Pacific North­west, but east of Washington’s Cas­cade Moun­tains tends to warm up ear­lier, mak­ing it a per­fect loca­tion for our annual May Day celebration.

This is our fifth con­sec­u­tive year cel­e­brat­ing the age old cel­e­bra­tion of Beltane… though I must admit we’ve  added a hand­ful of our own tra­di­tions to the annual spring time event. The hol­i­day marks the halfway point between the Spring Equinox and the Sum­mer Sol­stice. It coin­cides with the time of year when fields are ready to be sewn and an abun­dance of life seems to spring up all around us. Farm­ers herd­ing their live­stock from the low lands (over win­ter) up to fresh spring mead­ows and pas­tures in the high coun­try would extin­guish all of the fires/​lights from their homes and head to the tallest nearby hill.

There a huge bon­fire was lit as cat­tle were dri­ven near the flames for pro­tec­tion. Lovers would leap over the embers to imbue fer­til­ity and romance into their rela­tion­ship. Cel­e­brants danced and par­tied late into the night to show their appre­ci­a­tion for sur­viv­ing the pre­vi­ous win­ter and the promise of a boun­ti­ful, warm sum­mer grow­ing season.

We gather around our Beltane fire with a group of close friends and loved ones. The ornately dec­o­rated kin­dling pile is lit with flint and very quickly we have a rag­ing fire. We add the 9 sacred woods, each rep­re­sent­ing an aspect of change and growth we wish to expe­ri­ence in the year ahead. Next comes a big fajita din­ner! Cinco de Mayo coin­ci­den­tally hap­pens the same week as Beltane (though com­pletely unre­lated) so we pre­pare a yummy mex­i­can feast over the fire.

We hiked to the top of the near­est hill, which in this case was Steam­boat Rock. Carved by the ancient floods at the end of the last Ice Age, this land fea­ture resem­bles a mesa planted in the mid­dle of a deep val­ley (coulée). It’s a tough scram­ble, but once on top you’ll find wild flow­ers, deer herds, and panoramic views of the sur­round­ing area. It’s really quite spectacular!

Last but not least it’s also my (Garet’s) birth­day. I really couldn’t think of any­thing I’d rather do on my birth­day than go camp­ing! In our friend group, if it’s your birth­day you get one wish granted from every other per­son on the camp­ing trip. I some­times strug­gle to think of enough wishes. Because hon­estly, when I’m sit­ting around a camp­fire with friends, drink­ing Rainier Beer, laugh­ing and hav­ing a good time… there’s really noth­ing else I would wish for! I feel like the luck­i­est birth­day boy on earth.

Here’s a link to the rest of the pho­tos from this trip: Beltane 2012 

Frolicking Friday!

Well that week sure flew by! Wheww! Enjoy today’s fea­tured photo:

Here’s a photo of me hik­ing along the banks of the Colum­bia River near the Gorge. Specif­i­cally this is the trail from our camp at Big Gay Van­tage out to the nude beach. The annual Memo­r­ial Day Week­end trip to Van­tage, WA is next week (can you believe it!?). We’re pretty excited for some fun in the sun. Cute boys and crazy nights await us!