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| the lighting of the Beltane fire |
Crikey ... writing this when so much has happened since is a little tricky - so please excuse the brevity of this post. I was only at the wood for the first half of Beltane as I left to go to the Carpathian mountains to photograph bears on the Saturday night, but I have it on good authority that the gang kept the fire going as tradition dictates and certainly long enough to burn the large piles of Rhodies dotted throughout the wood.
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| Rhodie roots finally moving on |
We had googled the ancient traditions of Beltane and decided to tweak them a little to create our own traditions (we ignored quite a few as well, on account of them being far too onerous or "out there"). We started by each writing down our dreams and wishes for the coming year on a scrap of paper and using them to light the fire on the top, in the way-leave. Next came the jumping over the fire, an act of cleansing which apparently stems from farmers driving their cattle through the smoke in days of old to rid them of ticks and lice etc.
We also built a small Cairn on the bank above the Yardarm which will grow every year as we each add new stones to mark the coming of Summer.
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| Camp cairn - to mark Beltane |
For months we have been eyeing up a very large log near the entrance to the wood as the perfect fireside bench. It had sat near the parking area week after week, hopeful that one weekend there would be enough muscle in camp to move it down to the fire. Beltane was the weekend the boys decided to give it a go. Gutted I wasn't there to witness the feat, but thankfully Tracey had taken almost 2000 photos on Simon's phone, so I got to see a few after my trip...
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| The muscle crew - Flee, Simon, Mungo and Ant |
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| Log bench in situ |
