Visitors leave Beltane offerings at the Red Spring in Chalice Well Gardens, Glastonbury, as part of a seasonal ritual linked to fertility, renewal, and the turning of the year. The spring’s iron-rich water leaves a red residue on the rocks over which it flows, and within modern pagan and earth-spiritual traditions this has come to symbolise the life-force of blood, and the generative aspect of the feminine. These ideas often associated with Beltane itself. Beltane, observed around May Day, marks the peak of spring and the beginning of summer, traditionally understood as a time of union, growth, and abundance. Offerings - typically flowers, ribbons, or small natural tokens - are left as acts of gratitude, intention-setting, or participation in that cycle of renewal.
