Spirit of Beltane

The Spirit of Beltane was a series of paintings that sadly was interrupted by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequently was never completed. I was exploring the ancient festival of Beltane. In spring, bonfires were built outside villages and  farm animals were driven through the smoke as a ritual cleansing as shown by my depictions of ancient cattle. Animal masks and skulls were often worn by the overseers of the fires. 

 

Today the festival of Beltane has mostly morphed into May Day but it is still celebrated in some parts of the UK, most notably in Edinburgh with the lighting of a huge Beltane bonfire.