Rhiannon ([info]rhiannons_rose) wrote in [info]pagan,
@ 2008-03-18 20:43:00
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I think I've gotten confused.
Let me preface my question with: I am still learning.

I thought Beltane (May 1) was for jumping over bonfires. I recently remember reading a post discussing jumping over a fire for Ostara.

Someone please straighten out my brain.

Thanks!

Bright Blessings!

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[info]autumns_valor
2008-03-19 05:33 am UTC (link)
no fire jumping for Ostara. :) Got to love the learning curve huh?

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[info]rhiannons_rose
2008-03-20 04:00 am UTC (link)
Glad to know I had it straight in my head.

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[info]stratyllis
2008-03-19 06:21 am UTC (link)
I've never heard of jumping over a fire for Ostara. Ostara isn't a fire festival.

Intresting. Do you have a link to the post?

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[info]rhiannons_rose
2008-03-20 03:41 am UTC (link)
Sadly, no. It remains in the dusty corners of my brain. Not sure if it was this, or another pagan-esque community.

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[info]gothbunnyodoom
2008-03-19 11:22 am UTC (link)
No jumping the fire for Ostara. I would like to see the post as well.

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[info]rhiannons_rose
2008-03-20 03:59 am UTC (link)
I tried to look for it, but I guess I don't remember when it was.

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[info]sunrising
2008-03-19 11:32 am UTC (link)
We do fire jumping at Litha ... I've never heard of it for Ostara or Beltane.

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[info]magical_muse
2008-03-19 11:52 am UTC (link)
Beltane is a traditional Fire Festival with livestock and people passing between the fires for purification.

Jumping the bonfire is for luck and/or fertility.

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[info]sunrising
2008-03-19 12:16 pm UTC (link)
Ya learn something every day! :-)

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[info]rhiannons_rose
2008-03-20 04:01 am UTC (link)
Thanks for confirming.

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[info]geminibalance
2008-03-19 01:10 pm UTC (link)
This isn't directly from the Farrars' Witches Bible, but I recall learning some of this from there and some of this from elsewhere throughout my studies.

The equinoxes are relative newcomers to the wheel of the year. The Pagan holidays used to be Imbolg, Beltaine, Midsummer, Lugnassadh, Samhain, and Yule. The Spring and Autumn equinox have only recently joined the other six (recently meaning this centuryish), and as a result, don't really have much in the way of their own history and meaning. Consequently, they end up borrowing from their neighbor holidays in some ways. This slight confusion is compounded if you, like me, live closer to the equator than our Pagan predecessors. For example...

Imbolg is the celebration of the return to light. Beltaine is the celebration of flowering fertility. Ostara borrows a bit from both of these as we celebrate the return of spring and the new growth around us.

Lugnassagh (Lammas) is traditionally the celebration of first harvest, but for those of us in Texas, we may as well be celebrating Midsummer all over again for all the harvesting we're able to do at the first of August. For us, Mabon (autumnal equinox) seems a more fitting time to celebrate harvest and to prepare for the long winter.


Yes, I've read of fire jumping at Ostara, just like I've read about the element of Fire being called in the North (southern hemisphere and Yule), or even West (Draconic tratition? I think?). neoPaganism tends to borrow where it may to make traditions and holidays that make sense for those people who care to celebrate and worship in it. Whether you choose to jump a fire or a broomstick or rope is up to you (and your coven, if you belong to one).

Merry meet!

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[info]nacho_cheese
2008-03-19 01:48 pm UTC (link)
Well, shoot, this is interesting. :) I can see why one wouldn't celebrate Spring and Autumn equinoxes when the solstices seem to trump them (extreme heat to extreme cold -- or in Florida, extreme heat to "huh, guess we don't need the A/C anymore"), but I'm glad they were added. Love celebrating the start of Spring.

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[info]rhiannons_rose
2008-03-20 04:05 am UTC (link)
Very interesting.

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[info]snowcalla
2008-03-19 02:52 pm UTC (link)
where there are Pagans...there will be a Drum Circle.
Where there is a Drum Circle...there will be a bonfire.
Where there is a bonfire...there will be people jumping over it (usually at about 3 or 4 am)

;)

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[info]bronwenf
2008-03-19 03:14 pm UTC (link)
Agreed :)

Traditionally, though, Litha (midsummer) is the bonfire-jumping holiday.

Then at Yule you bring the bonfire indoors by lighting a humongous Yule Log and staring at it.

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[info]heathen_wolf
2008-03-19 03:20 pm UTC (link)
I thought it was a pre-requisite to be pyro for some tradition's initiations?

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[info]nacho_cheese
2008-03-19 07:03 pm UTC (link)
It is for my personal system! ;)

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[info]rhiannons_rose
2008-03-20 04:02 am UTC (link)
heh

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What I've learned
[info]teeana
2008-03-19 03:17 pm UTC (link)
From what I understand, jumping the bale fire is not tied to a specific sabbat. It is a fertility rite more than anything.

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[info]rainydaymary
2008-03-19 05:08 pm UTC (link)
I will jump over a bonfire any day or the week/month/year ... call me ...

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[info]don_marshmallow
2008-03-19 07:12 pm UTC (link)
Aw, hell. If you want to jump over a fire, then do it. Who says you've got to follow a prescribed set of whatnots for a given day?

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[info]brianthedog
2008-03-20 06:53 am UTC (link)
Jumping the fire is usually associated with Beltane in most Neopagan traditions, though some do it at Lammas as well.

FWIW, jumping the fire is part of the celebration of Nowruz (Persian New Year), which takes place at the spring equinox and is celebrated throughout Central Asia but mostly in Iran. The traditional phrase shouted when jumping the fire translates to "May you (the fire) receive my paleness, and I your vigor." This celebration dates back 3,000 years. Clearly, the Persians (who are an Indo-European culture and therefore related to the Celts, the Greeks, the Romans, the Norse and just about anyone else Wiccans are likely to get ritual ideas from) didn't think fire magic was just for the cross-quarters :)

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