Beltane 2009

Last weekend Ron and I celebrated Beltane on a meeting with 40 other people in Hengelo, the same location where we celebrated Beltane last year. This time I was just a guest, although I did have a role in the ritual.
We arrived late in the afternoon on Saturday and were welcomed in a very warm and kind way. It was good to see a lot of familiar faces, but also a lot of new ones. At first I thought: "wow, 40 is a lot", but it worked out for the best. It wasn't possible to talk for a while with everyone, but that's okay. I didn't have to. Ron and I just wanted to relax with friends in a beautiful area, that's what we needed. And that's what we got!

In the evening we performed a wonderful Beltane ritual. I didn't bring the right shoes, so I decided to go barefoot. Ron was responsible for the fire. We chanted a native american song while we were smudged. One of the girls guided us into meeting the elements, the perfect start of this ritual. Of course there was a Maypole; very different from last year, but just as nice. We laughed while dancing around trying to get the braiding of the ribbons right. The result was not-too-bad. :-) Ron did the drumming. To end the dancing he gave one stroke on my drum. It wasn't heavy at all, but he went right through the drum! Such a pity, but we'll try to give it a new skin.
After the ritual most people gathered around the fire in the fire pit circle. Until late there were people singing, playing instruments, talking, etc. I went to sleep as the first one; I was exhausted!

I slept like a baby and woke up in the morning. Ron was early too and we decided to take a walk in the park behind the location. It was very quiet and we heard and saw a lot of birds. When we got back most of the group was awake. After breakfast the workshops started. I participated in a workshop by Yvette and Tonny of Insentro (Centre for emotional realization and coaching) called "Identifying with our thought" based on The Work of Byron Katie. It was all about experiencing, very interesting and I learned a lot.
After the workshops it was time to pack, clean up and saying goodbye!