Beltane ( ) or Bealtaine () is the Gaelic May Day festival, marking the beginning of summer. It is traditionally held on 1 May, or about midway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Historically, it was widely observed in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. In Ireland, the name for the festival in both Irish and English is (). In Scottish Gaelic it is (), and in Manx Gaelic or . It is one of the four main Gaelic seasonal festivals—along with Samhain, Imbolc, and Lughnasadh—and is similar to the Welsh .
Beltane is mentioned in the earliest Irish literature and is associated with important events in Irish mythology. Also known as (possibly 'first of summer'), it marked the beginning of summer and was when cattle were driven out to the summer pastures. Rituals were performed to protect cattle, people and crops, and to encourage growth. Special bonfires were kindled, whose flames, smoke and ashes were believed to have protective powers. The people and their cattle would walk around or between bonfires and sometimes leap over the flames or embers. All household fires would be doused and then relit from the Beltane bonfire.
These gatherings were accompanied by a feast, and some of the food and drink would be offered to the (the 'fairy folk'). Doors, windows, byres and livestock were decorated with yellow May flowers, perhaps because they evoked fire. In parts of Ireland, people made a May Bush: typically a thorn bush or branch decorated with flowers, ribbons, bright shells and rushlights. Holy wells were also visited, while Beltane dew was thought to bring beauty and maintain youthfulness. Many of these customs were part of May Day or Midsummer festivals in parts of Great Britain and mainland Europe, such as Germanic celebrations of Walpurgis Night.
Public celebrations of Beltane fell out of popularity by the 20th century, though some customs have been revived as local cultural events. Since the late 20th century, Celtic neopagans and Wiccans have observed a festival based on Beltane as a religious holiday. Neopagans in the Southern Hemisphere may mark the festival on 1 November.
Name In Old Irish, the name was usually or . In modern Irish, the festival is usually called ("day of Beltane"), while the month of May is ("month of Beltane"). In Scottish Gaelic, the festival is . Sometimes the older Scottish Gaelic spelling is used. The term (Scottish) or (Irish), "the bright or yellow day of Beltane", means the first of May. In Ireland it is referred to in a common folk tale as ; the first day of the week (Monday/) is added to highlight the first day of summer.
The name is anglicised as Beltane, Beltain, Beltaine, Beltine and Beltany.
Another Old Irish name for the festival was or , probably meaning 'first of summer'. Ó Duinnín's Irish dictionary (1904) gives this as or in modern Irish. It survives in the Scottish Gaelic name for the month of May, , and matches the Welsh . These have all been derived from proto-Celtic (first + summer).
Etymology Two modern etymologies have been proposed. The first reconstructs Beltaine as , deriving it from a stem associated with 'death' (cf. Old Irish at·baill 'dies', epeltu < *eks-beltu 'dying'), from an earlier , based on Proto-Indo-European *gʷel- 'suffering, death'. On this view, Beltaine would be cognate with the Lithuanian goddess of death Giltinė. The lack of expected syncope (Irish sound laws would predict **Beltne) has been explained as the result of a popular reinterpretation of Beltaine as a compound containing Old Irish tene ('fire'). However, Peter Schrijver says that this etymology is problematic, as it is unlikely the beginning of the fertile summer season would be associated with death, and it does not accord well with medieval accounts of kindling fires to guard against sickness. According to another etymology, Beltaine is a compound formed from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰel- ('shine') and Old Irish tene ('fire'). Schrijver suggests that the element bel derives from an Indo-European word for henbane, a psychoactive plant used in herbal medicine.
Medieval Irish texts say that the name means "Bel's fire"; fire of the god Bel. This could be an Irish version of the Celtic god Belenos, but Bel is not mentioned anywhere else in early Irish literature and the texts include many fanciful etymologies.
Toponymy
There are place names in Ireland containing the word , indicating places where Beltane festivities were once held. It is often anglicised as Beltany. There are three Beltanys in County Donegal, including the Beltany stone circle, and two in County Tyrone. In County Armagh there is a place called Tamnaghvelton/ ('the Beltane field'). Lisbalting/ ('the Beltane ringfort') is in County Tipperary, while Glasheennabaultina/ ('the Beltane stream') is the name of a stream joining the River Galey in County Limerick.
Origins It is believed that Beltane originated as a pastoral festival associated with herders practising transhumance.Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford University Press, 1996. pp. 218–225Frazer, Sir James George. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. Forgotten Books, 2008. p. 644 This is where herders (sometimes with their families) moved with their cows and sheep to higher pastures during the summer months. It was once widespread in Ireland, where it was known as "booleying", as well as in Britain and other parts of Europe.
The ancient Roman festival of Parilia or Palilia had many similarities with Beltane. Around 21 April, before shepherds drove their flocks to the summer pastures, they carried out cleansing and protective rituals. Sheep folds were decorated with greenery, a bonfire was lit, the shepherds and their sheep leapt over burning embers, the shepherds drank a beverage they had brewed, and made offerings to the deity Pales. It suggests that the festivals, as well as similar May Day customs elsewhere in Europe, had a common origin in the distant past.Fowler, Warde W. The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic. MacMillan, 1899. pp. 79–85.
Historical customs Beltane was one of four Gaelic seasonal festivals: Samhain (1 November), Imbolc (1 February), Beltane (1 May), and Lughnasadh (1 August). Beltane marked the beginning of the pastoral summer season, when livestock were driven out to the summer pastures.Koch, John T. Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. 2006. p. 202 Rituals were held at that time to protect them from harm, both natural and supernatural, and this mainly involved the "symbolic use of fire". There were also rituals to protect crops, dairy products and people, and to encourage growth. The (often referred to as spirits or fairies) were thought to be especially active at Beltane (as at Samhain), and the goal of many Beltane rituals was to appease them. Most scholars see the as remnants of the pagan gods and nature spirits.Santino, Jack. The Hallowed Eve: Dimensions of Culture in a Calendar Festival of Northern Ireland. University Press of Kentucky, 1998. p. 105 Beltane was a "spring time festival of optimism" during which "fertility ritual again was important, perhaps connecting with the waxing power of the sun".
Ancient and medieval The earliest mention of Beltane is in Old Irish literature from Gaelic Ireland. The early-10th century text (Cormac's Glossary) has an entry for "Belltaine" and derives it from bil-tene, "lucky fire". It says that to protect cattle from disease, the druids used to light two fires "with great incantations" and drive the cattle between them.Stokes, Whitley (ed.) and John O'Donovan (tr.). Sanas Cormaic: Cormac's Glossary. Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society. Calcutta: O.T. Cutter, 1868. In another entry, for "Bel, Bil", Sanas Cormaic says that Belltaine means "fire of Bel", explaining that Bel or Bil was "an idol god" and that "a fire was kindled in his name at the beginning of summer always, and cattle were driven between the two fires". Some scholars suggest that this might have been the Celtic healing god Belenos, although there is no other mention of Bel in Old Irish writings. Other scholars suggest that the writer was attempting to link the druidic fires with the Biblical god Baal.
The medieval tale (The Wooing of Emer) gives the same description of Beltaine, that "the druids used to make two fires with great incantations, and to drive the cattle between them against the plagues, every year". It says that it marks the beginning of summer, and calls Beltaine and Samhain (the beginning of winter) the two main divisions of the year.The Wooing of Emer by Cú Chulainn – Translated by Kuno Meyer . CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts. Glosses in the Senchas Már, a 7th–8th century collection of laws, say that it is customary to take the cattle out around May Day () from the green of the old residence () to a summer pasture (), and to return around November Day ().Costello, Transhumance and the Making of Ireland's Uplands, p.30
According to 17th-century historian Geoffrey Keating, there was a great gathering at the hill of Uisneach each Beltane in medieval Ireland, where a sacrifice was made to a god named Beil. Keating wrote that two bonfires would be lit in every district of Ireland, and cattle would be driven between them to protect them from disease.Keating, Geoffrey. The History of Ireland – Translated by David Comyn and Patrick S. Dinneen . CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts. There is no reference to such a gathering in the annals, but the medieval Dindsenchas (lore of places) includes a tale of a hero lighting a holy fire on Uisneach that blazed for seven years. Ronald Hutton writes that this may "preserve a tradition of Beltane ceremonies there", but adds "Keating or his source may simply have conflated this legend with the information in Sanas Chormaic to produce a piece of pseudo-history". Nevertheless, excavations at Uisneach in the 20th century found evidence of large fires and charred bones, and showed it to have been a place of ritual since ancient times.Patterson, Nerys. Cattle Lords and Clansmen: The Social Structure of Early Ireland. University of Notre Dame Press, 1994. p. 139MacKillop, James. A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. Oxford University Press, 1998. pp. 39, 400–402, 421 Evidence suggests it was "a sanctuary-site, in which fire was kept burning perpetually, or kindled at frequent intervals", where animal sacrifices were offered.Schot, Roseanne (2006). "Uisneach Midi a medón Érenn: a prehistoric cult centre and royal site in Co. Westmeath". Journal of Irish Archaeology, issue 15. pp.47–66
Beltane is also mentioned in medieval Scottish literature. An early reference is found in the poem 'Peblis to the Play', contained in the Maitland Manuscripts of 15th- and 16th-century Scots poetry, which describes the celebration in the town of Peebles.
Modern era From the late 18th century to the mid 20th century, many accounts of Beltane customs were recorded by folklorists and other writers. For example John Jamieson, in his Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (1808), describes some of the Beltane customs which persisted in the 18th and early 19th centuries in parts of Scotland, which he noted were beginning to die out.
Bonfires