Although it is not uncommon to see snow on May 1 in western Wisconsin, at the Sacred Cedar Shrine we welcome the sacredness and joy of spring on this day, drawing from a combination of the European Beltane, and the Japanese Sagicho and Sai-no-Kawara cross-quarter festivals.

After the seclusion of the winter and with the departure of the Blessed Crone, it is time for all unnaturally lingering or unbeneficial spirits to be freed and to move on to their next step in the great journey. After solumnly thanking and saying farewell to the winter, the Crone, and those who have gone before, we light great bond-fires. Then with frantic drumming, dancing, and joyous singing we exhuberantly welcome the returning bounty of Great Nature.

All across the northern hemisphere this is a time of great celebration. Everywhere, in every faith and in every person, we can see the unity of the hearts and spirits of every being in the rituals and celebrations that mark this day.

Beltane is the Celtic May-day, on which the lighting of bonfires is believed to be related to the worship of the sun. In Scottish this is known as Bealltain or Beal-Tene, a combination of Beal - to gather matter; to swell and come to a head and Taine - a fire. This is one of the four great Quartermass days of the year, the others being Samhain, Imbolc, and Lughnasad.

At the Beltane Fire a Beltane Cake was cooked then divided into a number of pieces equal to those participating. One piece was then blackened with charcoal. Lots were drawn, and the individual who drew the blackened piece became the Cailleac Bealtine [the Crone of Beltane], the representative of passing winter. The Crone was driven away, often being pelted with eggshells (symbols of the Spring), and then was spoken of as if dead for some weeks following.

This essence of this festival is repeated annually in Minneapolis in the Heart of the Beast MayDay parade, where Winter is ritually driven out, and Spring is welcomed with great abandon and a massive parade.

According to Cormac, the archbishop of Cashel in about the year 908, the custom was to light two great Beltane Fires close together, then between them cattle would be driven and people would run, thus driving off disease and bad fortune for the following year. From this comes the Scottish proverb; [he] is between two Beltane fires.

In Strathspey, Highlanders would make large hoops of rowen wood and they would drive their livestock and walk themselves through the hoops in a similar fashion, but in this case repeating the ritual at sunrise and again at sunset.

The Beltane Fire is still celebrated by the Beltane Fire Society every year on Calton Hill in Edinburgh, sometimes drawing audiences of 12,000 or more, and the Heart of the Beast theatre MayDay ceremony and festival in Powderhorn in Minneapolis draws tens of thousands.

"Happy MayDay!" is the cry thoughout the northern hemisphere as the spring fills us to overflowing with good will and hope for the coming season.

Originally a new year's fire purification festival, the Sagicho Matsuri is celebrated around the time of the Spring Equinox in mid-March.

According to the Official Chronicles of Nobunaga, the famous warlord Oda Nobunaga organized this festival at the site of the Azuchi Castle in the sixteenth century. After performing a dance in extreme make-up, Oda Nobunaga then lead a crowd of young men wearing the dress and make-up of women throughout the town. Carrying 13 Sagicho floats, tall bamboo structures adorned with enormous pine pitch torches and colorful streamers, the parade wound through the town for two days.

Late in the evening of the second day the floats were returned to the site of the castle and a fire was set to the floats. People danced excitedly amid showers of fire sparks as the Sagicho floats blazed, and the ensuing celebration lasted late into the evening.

Newcomers to the district were so astonished by the sight that Sagicho (which refers to the floats themselves) became a second new years fire ritual and is celebrated around the time of the Vernal Equinox each year.

This time of year is also very significant to Sai-no-Kami (who may also be called Dourokujin), the folk deities who administer the border between this world and the next. They are closely associated with roads, travel and boundaries, and shrines honoring them protect mountain passes, crossroads, and village boundaries. Dousojin are also instrumental in fertility both in crops and humans, and the many stone markers found throughout Japan also bear this name, especially those that are either phallic or are carved to show a single figure or a couple in sexual union.

Supplications to the Esteemed Sai-no-Kami for the obstruction of passage of evil entities, disease, and the warding off of evil spirits is most efficatious at this time of year, and this is the festival during which the Omamori related to safe travel and safe passage are blessed at our shrine.

As we are located in a mostly agricultural county this is also a significant time to pray for the success and safety of the crops, the gifts of which our very lives depend.

The Sacred Cedar Shrine is a family shrine with limited membership and our Sagicho festival is not open to the public without prior arrangement, although we pray for the health, well-being, and safe passage of all beings on this day.

If you would like more information, or would like prayers said for you or a loved one on this sacred day, please email us.