Problems Crash Aussie Beltane Party Plans
Sunday October 26, 2008
A reader recently sent me a gentle reminder that while those of us above the equator are gearing up for Samhain, the folks in the Southern Hemisphere are planning to celebrate the Beltane season. It's a valid point, and one that us Northern-Hemisphere Pagans tend to overlook sometimes. As such, you'll be seeing some Beltane articles here on the blog over the next week along with the Samhain pieces.
In the meantime, I wanted to share this article with you from Victoria, New South Wales, in Australia. For the past three decades, witches in the area have celebrated every year with the Mount Franklin Beltane Festival, and there have never been any problems. Last year, unfortunately, a group of people who have since been nicknamed "the trolls" caused some problems. From reading the article, it sounds as though it was a case of a big split in the Victoria Pagan community. This year, there are a couple of invitation-only events, rather than a huge public gathering.
According to the article, Halloween in Australia is celebrated at the end of April each year, because it heralds the coming of winter. However, it looks as though a lot of people have adopted the American custom of trick-or-treating on October 31. Any of our Australian friends want to chime in on this and share some thoughts?
In the meantime, I wanted to share this article with you from Victoria, New South Wales, in Australia. For the past three decades, witches in the area have celebrated every year with the Mount Franklin Beltane Festival, and there have never been any problems. Last year, unfortunately, a group of people who have since been nicknamed "the trolls" caused some problems. From reading the article, it sounds as though it was a case of a big split in the Victoria Pagan community. This year, there are a couple of invitation-only events, rather than a huge public gathering.
According to the article, Halloween in Australia is celebrated at the end of April each year, because it heralds the coming of winter. However, it looks as though a lot of people have adopted the American custom of trick-or-treating on October 31. Any of our Australian friends want to chime in on this and share some thoughts?
Comments
Some odd comments struck me about the article. The author may have just gotten his facts mixed. Beltaine is the beginning of Spring not Summer. And I also grew up with the witchcraft of the ’70s and do not remember any time when witchcraft and Satanism were the same thing. The sources I found were Ray Buckland, Laurie Cabot, and Scott Cunningham. None of whom advocate the dark as Mr. Sinton mentions. I may be off by a couple of years, but this was the period I was in the Service and I traveled alot. I do remember that the first book I read was by Laurie Cabot and I read at this time. (Just a question not a deragatory comment.) Is Paganism so very different down under as this article makes it sound?
Happy Halloween, Beltaine, and Samhain to all!!
(on a silly note, a non-pagan friend tried to say Samhain the other day and made it sound like samon. The pagan friend he was talking to was sooo confused until I figured it out and corrected him. We all had a good laugh.)
Well, in some reckonings of the seasons, Beltaine is, in fact, the beginning of summer. In Ireland, May 1 is considered to be the beginning of summer.
Hi from Sunny Qld - and yes - we do both! My group had a halloween party/BBQ for the kids, but we also do Beltane ritual (although maybe not as a group this year). Rowan, we celebrate Beltane as the gateway to summer (coming after Ostara/Spring Equinox). I thought Nth Hemisphere did the same?
As for Witchcraft in the 70’s, there was a rash of smutty magazines promoting the “dark underbelly” (mainly published in the UK & USA). Quoting Dr. She D’Montford: “In those days, sexist by-lines, and sensational, inaccurate, occult horror stories were the fare”. Check out this site if you are game (warning: adult content R18+) www.badmags.com. The popular media, fueled by Anton LeVay, grabbed the whole thing and ran with it.
And remember, in the article, that was one persons interpretation!
I personally don’t think things are that different.
Have a wonderful Sabbat, whichever you are celebrating!
I’d like to clarify some facts as I was there last year at the Beltaine event where this supposedly happened. I was ALSO camping in the “Trolls” camp with my boyfriend, infant daughter, and a number of other families and couples. It was NOT the troll camp causing the trouble, but people coming up and threatening our camp including threatening to hit the women and children by some thugs who were friends of the real cause of the trouble, a women by the name of Lizzie Rose. The men of the Troll camp were protecting us and never once started any of the problems at the festival that are alluded to here. This was reported to the festival authorities and the police on the weekend. I was there and at that camp. I know what happened. The Melbourne Pagan community has been split for a long time. The happenings at the Beltaine festival were just part of a very long saga of Lizzie Rose and her quest to be queen of the Melbourne Pagans.
um… i think you’ll find the Victoria is a separate state in Australia, south of New South Wales, not as you said in this article, a place in New South Wales.
-An Australian