Source: The Record
http://news.therecord.com/Life/faith/article/704679
Like many Waterloo Region residents, Tiffany Lazic plans to be knuckle-deep in soil today.
But unlike many of the green thumbs grooming their gardens, Lazic will be tilling the land with holiness on her mind.
“I’ll be … honouring the spark of life that is really starting to kindle in the ground,” Lazic said.
For pagans who follow Celtic spiritual paths, including Lazic, May 1 is the holy day known as Calan Mai or, more popularly, Beltane.
In ancient times in the British Isles, Beltane was the time of year when tribes awoke from winter slumber and gathered together to celebrate the start of another — hopefully bountiful — agricultural season.
It was also a time when farmers drove their livestock between two large bonfires in order to symbolically purify their animals to “ensure” they will grow to abundance before the following winter, Lazic said.
Often called a fertility festival, Beltane is primarily a time of union, she added.