Songs for Beltane
May morning dawned cold and windy here, but I still went out and washed my face in morning dew. At my secret spot, swallows were flitting, red-winged blackbirds were trilling, and wild strawberries were in full bloom. Lots of white flowers for May —hawthorn, wild strawberry, serviceberry (aka saskatoon) and one I didn't recognize. I plucked a sprig of flowering hawthorn and brought a "branch of May" inside.
Some time back I promised to post my Beltane playlist — so here it is, my favorite Songs for May. (A little late but then, I think of Beltane as a whole season, not just a night and a day.) There's a few traditional songs on this list, which may not be to everyone's taste, but I love them.
This is my iTunes playlist that you can purchase and download, or just listen to the sound clips:
Beltane Songs for the Pagan Wheel of the Year
The Padstow May Song, Lance Frodsham (A Branch of May)
Aphrodite and Pan, Kellianna, (Lady Moon)
Staines Morris, Broceliande, (Gathering May)
Merry May Folk, Emerald Rose, (Bending Tradition)
May Queen, Three Weird Sisters, (Hair of the Frog)
Summerisle - The Maypole Song, Mediaeval Baebes (Undrentide)
The Cambridgeshire May Song, Jean Ritchie, (Carols for All Seasons)
New Beltane Boogie, Claudia Schmidt, (Essential Tension)
Heel an Toe, Elisa M. Welch, (Wheel)
The Mummer's Dance, Loreena McKennitt, (The Book of Secrets)
Beltane Fires, Gaia Consort, (Secret Voices)
And these are more of my favorite May songs not available on iTunes:
From Tempest, The 10th Anniversary Compilation - 1998
From Jaiya, Beltane, Songs for the Green Time
From Ruth Barrett, The Year is a Dancing Woman, Vol. 1:
Staines Morris
Blessed Be the Fire
From Ruth Barrett & Cyntia Smith, The Heart is the Only Nation:
The May Queen is Waiting
From Lisa Thiel, Circle of the Seasons:
Beltane (Lord & Lady Song)
I'm a big fan of the group Jaiya — could it be because they live on one of the Canadian Gulf Islands, not all that far from me? Well, our Beltane celebration was rained out, but theirs wasn't. Looks like a great time to me.
One of my favorite Beltane songs is "Beltane Fires" by Gaia Consort. For those of you in the Seattle area, GC will be playing at a Beltaine Masque on May 13th — should be a lot of fun. We haven't seen Chris and Sue in a long time and I forward to giving and getting some hugs. And Craig will be playing bass with the band that night. You know it will be a great time!
I'll looking forward to hearing what your favorite Beltane songs are, too.
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