Beltane is approaching, and though I’m on the road right now to Southern California, I will be back to celebrate the dawn on May 1, arriving well before dawn at Berkeley’s Inspiration Point in Tilden Park .  There, every year, in no matter what the weather, Berkeley Morris  performs Morris dances  to ‘bring up the sun’ and honor the day.  I have always felt something almost primordially right about this way of celebrating the dawn and the beginning of this season.

I remember one year during a ferocious downpour they danced in the puddles and a decent crowd of us stood under umbrellas to honor them and the date.  More often they dance as the light gradually grows until the sun breaks through on the far eastern horizon, bathing us in its gentle light.  When the weather is decent, and it usually is, hundreds show up.  Not all are Pagans, but they are certainly Pagans at heart, honoring the turning of wheel, the sacredness of this day, and the warmth of community.

If you are in the SF Bay Area, consider getting up at an ungodly hour to be there by 5:20, well before dawn.  There is something truly wonderful about the experience.  The directions to their performance are here.

And if you are not in the SF Bay Area, check around to see if there is a local Morris Dancing troupe doing the same thing.  Maybe some of my readers can inform us of other places where the sun will be danced up.  It’s a wonderful way to honor the May.