Snowtane

Beltane is joyful. Beltane is colorful.  Beltane is sexy. Sometimes Beltane is challenging. Sometimes, Beltane is…Snowtane.

For the second year in a row, the Beltane Southwest festival near Albuquerque will be virtual because of continuing COVID concerns. But I can look back to the in-person celebrations.    

It’s an occasion to wear my most outrageous tie-dye. I fit right in. The costumes are spectacular for the winding of the Maypole. Usually the mid-day has been warm, even hot in the high desert mountains of New Mexico. But by the time the sun goes down, it might be a different story.    

I’ve learned over many years to bring hot weather clothes and sun hat plus my heavy duty tie dye sweatshirt, warm cloaks and my down jacket, stocking hat, and mittens. You just don’t know.    

Part of our Maypole ritual is the banishing of the Snow Queen until next winter. She doesn’t go easily. Summer starts with Beltane, not the Summer Solstice as in the muggle world. So we sing songs like Weaving the Summer by Spiral Dance. I remember a year us musical folks sang this song during the weaving of ribbons around the Maypole. It’s a fairly long song, but we still sang through it a lot of times. It takes a while to wrap the beautiful tall maypole our community has.

Hail to the summer, hail to the summer
The season that drives the cold winter away.
Hail to the summer, hail to the summer
Light the bonfires, today is Beltane.

from Weaving the Summer by Spiral Dance, recorded on the album Magick

I think it was about 15 years ago that the Forest Service moved us maybe 1,000 feet up hill from the ecosystem of pinon/juniper and lots of dust, to a space with Ponderosa pines. It wasn’t that far in miles, but it definitely made a difference in climate!    

Maybe it was the same year that the Forest Service moved us up the hill that I had a new tent after the door zipper in the old one died. I arrived Friday afternoon, got the tent set up (most likely with help from friendly fellow campers) and got my cot and sleeping bag inside.  Also my wool army blanket. I like to know that all is ready for me to climb into my cozy sleeping bag when I want. Then I can go partake of the festivities.     

I tire before a lot of Beltane celebrants. I stay up if there are fellow campers to socialize with, but I’ve stopped going to the late evening drum circle and dancing around the fire. I really enjoy snuggling into my  sleeping bag (my sleeping bag is my friend!) with the army blanket over the sleeping bag  and listening to the drumming in the distance. I like going to sleep with the sound of drumming.    

The next morning that year, I woke up with something in my face. I brought my hands out and pushed on it. WTF??? I pushed some more. I punched at it. I opened my eyes and realized it was my tent sagging into my face. More WTF???    

At some point I realized it was snow. The tents many of us have at festivals aren’t made for snow load. I got up, put my down jacket on, and went outside. I was greeted with several inches of heavy wet snow. I began knocking it off so the tent would stop sagging precariously.     

Some other campers started dragging out and realizing the situation. I’m from Colorado. They obviously weren’t. A fair number of them bundled up their stuff, loaded their vehicles and headed home immediately.   

A more adaptable camper made a small snowman standing on top of a picnic table, complete with Beltane manly endowment.    

In fact, a variety of snow scuptures appeared. There were snowball fights, too. Happy Snowtane!

Being from Colorado, I expected the snow wouldn’t last. It didn’t. In fact, by the time the maypole ritual was ready to start, the snow was long gone and everything was fine. No mud on the ritual ground.    

A few years ago it was intermittent rain, a blessing in the desert. But it was challenging for campers. It was also quite cool, even during the day, so it was a priority for me to avoid getting wet. For the Maypole ritual, I wore my rain poncho over warm festival clothes. My memory is that we got through the ritual without being rained on.  

But intermittent rain continued after that. People gathered under tarps, around gas-fueled fire pits, to socialize. It got colder and wetter. I wimped out and skipped the Balefire to avoid getting wet. I stayed under the tarp shelter.     

That year we woke up to snow and wind on Sunday. It was too unpleasant to relax over coffee and breakfast. The only thing to do was pack up everything asap. I don’t normally eat at Denny’s, but I had visions of sitting in a warm booth drinking hot coffee and eating a nice warm breakfast.  I was packed and ready to roll at 8:30 a.m., definitely a record for me. And the leisurely breakfast at Denny’s was quite fine, exactly what I wanted.    

Those Snowtanes were some of my most memorable Beltane festivals. Here on the Pagan Song website, other writers have shared their own memories. Alane offered her recollections of being May Queen. In another of my posts, I described festival activities that inspired my song “Beltane Spirits Come to Us.” And, Crow Sister Donamarie wrote of a memory of healing with song at a Beltane festival. (That post also includes samples of Donamarie’s wonderful fabric art pieces.) All of these, and other Beltane resources, are gathered on our Beltane page.

I’m wishing everyone a wonderful Beltane–in person with COVID precautions–or virtual.  Blessed be, and hail to the summer!

We want to thank our friends from the Beltane Southwest Community
for sharing their wonderful Snowtane pictures with us!