Beltaine O.S. (old style) is celebrated on May 5th, not on May 1st. The following explains why:

Beltaine is a high holy festival day, falling exactly halfway between the Vernal Equinox and the Summer Solstice. It is one of the four Cross Quarter days that fall between the equinoxes and the solstices.

The solar year is like a pie and can be divided into quarters. In our tradition, the fiducial (starting point) is the astronomically-measured date (not arbitrary) of the Vernal Equinox. This year the Vernal Equinox was on March 20.

If you divide 365.25 solar days by four, you get 91.3 days per quarter of the pie. In reality, the quarters don't come out exactly because the orbit is not perfectly circular -- it's eliptical. (This is how the ancients would have known that.)

The Vernal Equinox (3/20/2007) was on the 79th day of 2007.
The Autumnal Equinox (9/23/2007) is on the 266th day of 2007.
This cuts the solar year in two and gives us the first half of the solar year. To find the Quarter Day between the two equinoxes, Subtract 79 from 266 and you get 187 days for the half year. Half of that is 93.5 days. But we said above that equal quarters should be 91.3 days, right? See, it doesn't come out exact.

Subtract 93.5 days from 266 to get the half-point between the Equinoxes. Day 172 turns out to be EXACTLY the Summer Solstice on 6/21/2007.

Let's look at the second half of the year. The Vernal Equinox in 2008 is on 3/19/2008. That is day 444. Subtract 266 (the Autumnal Equinox) from 444 and you get 178 days in the second half of the solar year. There were 187 days in the first "half" of the solar year and 178 in the second half. (See. They're not equal.)

Halfway between the Autumnal Equinox and the next Vernal Equinox would be half of 178, or 89 days, from either one. Subtract 89 from 444 and you get day 325. This happens to be EXACTLY the Winter Solstice on 12/21/2007.

This gives us the QUARTER days for the High Holy Festivals -- the Equinoxes and the Solstices. These are the High Holy Festivals to be celebrated in the Western Esoteric Tradition.

In addition to these, Wiccans and Druids (and some others) celebrate the Cross-Quarter Days. These will be found half-way between the Quarter Days. For Beltaine, we're looking for the day that falls at the beginning of May. So we take the Summer Solstice (172) and subtract the Equinox (79). 172-79=93.

93 divided by two is 46.5. So 172 - 46.5 is 125.5. Day number 125 is May 5th. Beltaine!

So, the Cross-Quarter Day is May 5th. This is why Cinco de Maya is a holiday, and not May 1st. Beltaine should really be celebrated on May 5th, not on May 1st.

Beltaine O.S. (old style) is celebrated on May 5th.

What does Beltaine signify? Previous, the Vernal Equinox was the holiday of new birth and beginnings (and re-birth). Beltaine is the next holiday of the season signifying the beginning of the crop-growing season. It is a celebration of the fecundity of Nature.

In many traditions, the holiday is rife with sexual symbolism. In ancient Sumeria, the goddess pleads with the god to "plow her furrow." The Priest and the Priestess (or the King and the Queen) often couple ceremoniously during this ritual.

Ancient Celtic tradition called it the "Merry" holiday and basically sanctioned amorous coupling in the forest during the holiday. Offspring produced from such a coupling was considered to be sacred and the progeny were children of the community at large.

So, enjoy your Beltaine. Couple if you can. If you can't, bless those that do.

Amor and Lux