May 2, 2009
Now, why would I pick a comparison like that - comparing Beltane to
a Bar Mitzvah?
Perhaps because it's appropriate! And perhaps because one
gives perspective to the other!
At a Bar Mitzvah, the boy arrives at the synagogue with mom and
dad. But of all that goes on in that major rite of passage,
the focus is on the moment when he announces "Today I am a
man!" While the parents will still have a role in his life,
the character of his life changes at that moment, and more emphasis
is placed on what he does, and less on what is done for him or to
him.
And it is the same for the God, who was the Divine Child born at
Yule, whose growth and childhood we celebrated at Imbolc and
Ostara. Today he steps into his maturity and begins that part
of his life's journey in which he is the one responsible for doing
the traveling. And from this day forward until his funeral at
Samhain, we'll be seeing what he does.
And so, yes, Beltane is indeed the God's Bar Mitzvah. In so
many ways. And it's one more way in which we can relate to
The Divine.
Blessed Be!