One of the rituals that is performed is jumping the bonfire.
Not just any bonfire. It was historically made of special wood...whatever that pagan or Christian group may have thought would be significant ...Rowan, Hawthorne, old growth to burn and bring the new into life.
Yes, cattle/sheep etc were driven between 2 fires, the smoke thought to lead to their fertility as well as maybe to keep them more healthy. I dare say they were pretty scared of that ritual, but farming people did it.
I did jump a bonfire once. It was nowhere near as high as the one depicted in that photo above. But it was fun to see that I could run and jump over a pile of burning coals. It proved something to myself, and brought me into a new sense of being.
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| Large Cauldron, can hold water or fire. |
So this year I've got a cauldron, in which I will burn something or another. And perhaps jump just a little to get over it. The point is to go through smoke...to reach the other side of a barrier, and I sure do think I have lots of physical and psychological ones these days. It can have other significances to other people. Just stepping over a small fire will have meaning.
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| Small cauldron...which is my preference for holding Beltane fire this year. |
