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Beltane
The Gaelic fire festival of the start of summer, when cattle were driven between bonfires and doors were hung with flowers.
About Beltane
Beltane, on 1 May, is the old Gaelic start of summer, marked by bonfires on hilltops. In Irish and Scottish custom cattle were driven between two fires or around one, to protect them through the grazing season, and people leapt the flames for luck. Flowers such as rowan and hawthorn were set at doors, and many beliefs warned that fairies and witches were active that night, so milk and butter were guarded. The festival faded in the nineteenth century. It was revived in the modern Pagan calendar and, since 1988, in the Beltane Fire Festival on Calton Hill in Edinburgh, a night of costume and performance.
Entries tied to it
More entries linked to Beltane
🇩🇪 Germany and 4 moreNeed-fireNotfeuer
A ritual fire lit by friction to protect livestock and people from disease and witchcraftRite · Protection · Cleansing and purification Historical
🇮🇪 Ireland and 4 moreMay Day
A European spring festival marking the start of summer with flowers, poles and fire.Tradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
Written by the EveryJaadu desk with AI assistance. Background: "Beltane" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family, and are described as belief and practice. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Beltane Fire Festival: Stefan Schäfer, Lich, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bonfire: S Marshall, CC BY 3.0, source
- Need-fire: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Wheel of the Year: Sunblade1500, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- May Day: Bryan Ledgard, CC BY 2.0, source