Beltane
A Beltane bonfire on Calton Hill in Edinburgh
Also called	Irish: (Lá) Bealtaine, Scottish Gaelic: (Là) Bealltainn, Manx: (Laa) Boaltinn/Boaldyn
Observed by	Gaels, Irish people, Scottish people, Manx people, Neopagans
Type	Religious (Celtic polytheism, Celtic Neopaganism, Wicca) Cultural
Significance	traditional first day of summer in Ireland, Scotland and Isle of Man
Date	sunset 30 April – sunset 1 May (N. Hemisphere) sunset 31 October – sunset 1 November (S. Hemisphere)
Celebrations	lighting bonfires, making 'May boughs' or 'May bushes', dancing, singing, feasting
Related to	May Day, Calan Mai, Walpurgis Night

Beltane ( /ˈbɛlteɪn/) is the anglicised spelling of the Goidelic name for either the month of May or the festival held on the first day of May. In Irish Gaelic it is Bealtaine ([ˈbʲal̪ˠt̪ˠənʲə]), in Scottish Gaelic Bealltainn ([ˈbʲal̪ˠt̪ˠənʲ]) and in Manx Gaelic Boaltinn or Boaldyn.

Beltane was an ancient Gaelic festival celebrated in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. It marked the beginning of summer and was linked to similar festivals held elsewhere in Europe, such as the Welsh Calan Mai and the Germanic Walpurgis Night. Beltane and Samhain were the leading terminal dates of the civil year in medieval Ireland, though the latter festival was the more important. It is a cross-quarter day, marking the midpoint in the Sun's progress between the spring equinox and summer solstice. The astronomical date for this midpoint is nearer to 5 May or 7 May, but this can vary from year to year.^[1]

Beltane regained popularity during the Celtic Revival and is still observed as a cultural festival by some in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and among their diasporas. Today, Beltane is also observed as a religious festival by Celtic neopagans. Wiccans adopted the name Beltane for their May festival.

History[link]

Pre-medieval period[link]

According to Nora Chadwick, in Celtic Ireland "Beltine (or Beltaine) was celebrated on 1 May, a spring-time festival of optimism. Fertility ritual again was important, in part perhaps connecting with the waxing power of the sun, symbolized by the lighting of fires through which livestock were driven, and around which the people danced in a sunwise direction."^[2] The ninth century Sanas Cormaic (or "Cormac's Glossary") says the "...Druids used to make [the fires] with great incantations,"^[3] and were lit to safeguard against diseases.^[3]

In Irish mythology, the beginning of the summer season for the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians started at Bealtaine. Great bonfires would mark a time of purification and transition, heralding in the season in the hope of a good harvest later in the year, and were accompanied with ritual acts to protect the people from any harm by Otherworldly spirits, such as the Aos Sí.^[4] Like the festival of Samhain, opposite Beltane on 31 October, Beltane was also a time when the Otherworld was seen as particularly close at hand. Excavations at Uisnech in the 20th century provided evidence of large fires taking place.^[5]

Medieval period[link]

According to Geoffrey Keating, the main Beltane fire in medieval Ireland was on the hill of Uisneach,^[6][7] in what is now County Westmeath. There is no corroborating reference to the Beltane fires at Uisneach in the annals, so Keating's claims cannot be proven. However, there is evidence of large fires and charred bones from excavations at the site, showing it to have been ritually significant.^[7][6]

The lighting of bonfires on Beltane Eve seems to have lasted to the present day only in County Limerick, especially in Limerick itself, and in Arklow, County Wicklow.^[8] However, some cultural groups have sought to revive the custom at Uisneach and perhaps at the Hill of Tara.^[9]

Beltane marked the beginning of the pastoral summer season, when the herds of livestock were driven out to the summer pastures and mountain grazing lands. Due to the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, Bealltainn in Scotland was commonly celebrated on 15 May while in Ireland "Old Beltane" or "Old May" began about the night of 11 May.^{[citation needed]}

Modern period[link]

Edward Dwelly in Bealltuinn (1911) describes a 1 May custom of his day, practised in the Scottish Highlands, where young people met on the moors, lit a bonfire and made an oatmeal cake toasted at the embers. The cake was cut and one of the pieces marked with charcoal. Drawing the pieces blindfolded, whoever got the marked piece would have to leap over the flames three times.^[10]

Another common aspect of the festival in early 20th century Ireland was the hanging of May Boughs on the doors and windows of houses and the making of May Bushes in farmyards, which usually consisted either of a branch of rowan/caorthann (mountain ash) or more commonly whitethorn/sceach geal (hawthorn) which is in bloom at the time and is commonly called the 'May Bush' or just 'May' in both Ireland and Britain.^[11] Furze/aiteann was also used for the May Boughs, May Bushes and as fuel for the bonfire.^[11] The practice of bedecking the May Bush/Dos Bhealtaine with flowers, ribbons, garlands and coloured egg shells is found among the Gaelic diaspora, most notably in Newfoundland, and in some Easter traditions on the East Coast of the United States.^[11]

The festival persisted widely up until the 1950s, and in some places the celebration of Beltane continues today.^[5][12][13] The town of Peebles in the Scottish Borders holds a traditional week-long "Beltane Fair" every year in June, when a local girl is crowned Beltane Queen on the steps of the parish church. Like other Borders festivals, it incorporates a Common Riding.^[14]

Revival[link]

Edinburgh festival[link]

Beltane Fire Festival dancers, 2012

A Beltane Fire Festival has been held every year since 1988 during the night of 30 April on Calton Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland and attended by up to 15,000 people. While inspired by traditional Beltane, this festival is a modern arts and cultural event (compared by organizers^{[citation needed]} to the American Burning Man festival) which incorporates myth and drama from a variety of world cultures and diverse literary sources.^[15]

Gaelic diaspora[link]

The lighting of a community Beltane fire from which each hearth fire is then relit is observed today in some parts of the Gaelic diaspora, though in most of these cases it is a cultural revival rather than an unbroken survival of the ancient tradition.^[11][16][17] In some areas of Newfoundland, the custom of decorating the May bush, or bough, is also still extant.^[18]

Neo-Paganism[link]

Beltane and Beltane-based festivals are held by some Neopagans. As Neopaganism can vary largely from tradition to tradition, representations can vary greatly despite the shared name. Some celebrate in a way as near as possible to how the ancient Gaels did,^[19] while others observe the holiday with rituals taken from sundry unrelated sources, Gaelic culture being only one of the sources used.^[20][21]

Celtic Reconstructionist[link]

Like other Reconstructionist traditions, Celtic Reconstructionist Pagans emphasize historical accuracy. They base their celebrations and rituals on traditional lore from the living Celtic cultures, as well as research into the older beliefs of the polytheistic Celts.^[19][22]

Celtic Reconstructionists usually celebrate Lá Bealtaine when the local hawthorn trees are in bloom, or on the full moon nearest this event. Many observe the traditional bonfire rites, to whatever extent this is feasible where they live, including the dousing of the household hearth flame and relighting it from the communal fire.^[23] Some decorate May Bushes and prepare traditional festival foods.^[23] Pilgrimages to holy wells are traditional at this time, and offerings and prayers to the spirits or deities of the wells are usually part of this practice.^[23] Crafts such as the making of equal-armed rowan crosses are common, and often part of rituals performed for the blessing and protection of the household and land.^[23][24]