Beltaine

Beltaine, Belltaine, Bealtaine, Beltain, Beltane, Beltine, Bealteine, Bealltuinn (ScG.), Boaldyn (Manx). Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx words for the seasonal feast fixed at 1 May on the Gregorian calendar, or 15 May in Scotland. As the end of the dark half of the year, Beltaine is a survival of one of the four great Celtic calendar feasts, known in early Ireland as Imbolc (1 February), Lugnasad (ModIr. Lughnasa, 1 August), and Samain (1 November). The day was also known as Cétshamain in Ireland. Its counterparts in Wales are Cyntefin, Dydd Calan Mai, and Calan Mai, in Cornwall Cala' Mē, and in Brittany Kala-Hañv. Beltaine may or may not derive from the veneration of Belenus. It was a good day to begin great projects: both the Partholonians and the Milesians invaded Ireland on Beltaine, according to Lebor Gabála [Book of Invasions]. A great body of oral tradition is associated with Beltaine, of which the Beltaine fires and Beltaine cakes or bannocks are the most significant. Great bonfires were built on Beltaine in Ireland and on the Isle of Man; in Scotland the fires might be on mountain-tops. The fires could be called teine éigin [need fire, or fire from rubbing sticks]. In Cornwall Cala' Mē bonfires were still known in the late 20th century. An important ritual required herdsmen to drive their cattle between two fires as a way of preventing contagion through the next year. In Scotland effigies of witches were burned in the fire as late as the 18th century. People danced around the fire sunwise, to the right; on the Isle of Man they carried rowan branches or twigs. Hearth fires were extinguished and rekindled as an act of purification.

Beltaine was a time for the ritual eating of certain kinds of food. The Beltaine cakes or bannocks were large, round, and flat, usually made from oats or barley. They were large enough to be broken into several portions, one of which contained a black spot made by charcoal. The person who drew by lot the piece with the black spot was the Beltaine carline or old hag; he or she might be subject to a mimed execution of being thrown into the fire or drawn and quartered.