Belenos is one of the oldest gods of the Celtic peoples and his name means ‘fair shining one’ or ‘fair slayer’. The Romans believed he possessed similar attributes to the god Mars, who in part was an agricultural deity and engravings discovered in Cumbria, England, show the syncretised names of Mars Belatucadros. Julius Caesar identified Belenos with Apollo, a solar deity and they were syncretised to Belenos Apollo, a tutelary deity of the town of Aquila in Italy. Thomas Percy who translated ‘Mallet’s Northern Antiquities’ compared Belenos to the Norse deity Balder, a god of light and joy.
Belenos has over thirty stone inscriptions dedicated to him across northern Italy, south eastern Gaul and Noricum, a Roman province in modern day Austria. The people of Noricum saw Belenos as a god of healing. Inscriptions have been found in the British Isles pertaining to a cult of Belenos, but professor Ronald Hutton believes that the evidence is not very convincing. Belenos’ ancient roots can be found in several place names including Billingsgate in London (Bile’s Gate) a former fish market. Belenos was known as Beli to the Welsh, Belenus to the Gauls, Belinus to the Britons and Bile to the Irish (the word ‘bile’ was used by the Irish to mean 'sacred trees’). Altars discovered in Gaul often depict deities associated with trees such as the Gaulish god Esus).
Despite Belenos being widely worshipped, nothing is actually known about him. None of his mythology has survived and there are no mentions of him in early Irish literature. However, we do have possible glimpses in Irish lore, such as the creation myth with the goddess Danu. Her water from heaven flooded the earth and created the river Danube which nourished a sacred tree called Bile. She consequently gave birth to The Dagda who became the father of the gods.
The mythological Welsh King Beli Mawr could very well be a folk memory of Belenos. In the Mabinogi, Beli Mawr is a great British King and as with Scandinavian kings whose ancestors descended from the gods Odin or Freyr, Welsh aristocracy descended from Beli Mawr who may have shared the same roots as Belenos.
Bealtaine was a festival of purification and protection that Celtic peoples, living in the British Isles, historically observed on the full moon of May. The purpose of this fire ritual was to not only appease Belonos with sacrificial offerings, but to perform purification and protection rituals for livestock, crops and humans. Our ancestors' dependency on agriculture and livestock rested precariously on a knife’s edge. Bealtaine was known as Laa-Boaldyn on the Isle of Man, Calan Mai in Wales and Bealtaine in Ireland and Scotland. There are a dozen different spellings for Bealtaine including the anglicised ‘Beltane’. In the Gaelic language it is also known as Latha Buidhe Bealtain meaning the ‘Yellow Day of Beltaine’ which refers to the yellow flowers that were traditionally gathered at this time.
Bealtaine was very similar to the Roman festival of Palilia or Parilia that took place on 21st April in honour of the god Pales. Parilia was a pastoral festival for shepherds, herdsmen and livestock. In the ‘Fasti Antiates Maiores’ (a Roman Calendar) there was a festival that honoured the ‘two Pales’. There is a suggestion that the Pales deities could have descended from the Divine Twins of the Indo-European mythos.
An early source that refers to Bealtaine comes in the form of a poem that is attributed to Fionn mac Cumhaill (circa 600 AD). In the original poem ‘In Praise Of May’, Bealtaine is referred to as ‘cetamain’, a shortening of ‘cead shamhain’ meaning the first Samhain of the year. Bealtaine was described as ‘coicrich erraigh tsamraigh’ meaning ‘at the boundary of spring and summer’ and in Scottish Gaelic, the month of May is known as ‘An Ceitean’. The festival of Samhain comes six months after Bealtaine, straddling the liminal space between summer and winter. Its stories tell of the Otherworld and Lludd the son of Beli.
Another piece of written evidence we have of Bealtaine comes from a 9th century Irish glossary attributed to Bishop Cormac of Cashel called the ‘sanas chormaic’. Cormac explains that the name ‘Beltain’ comes from ‘Bel-tene’ meaning ‘goodly fire’ or ‘lucky fire’ and derives from the two fires ‘which the Druids of Ireland used to make with great incantations’ and was also named after the fire that belonged to the god Belenos.
The Irish antiquary Geoffrey Keating says that ‘they used to offer sacrifice to the chief god they adored, who was called Ceil.’ Keating believed that Bealtaine was celebrated on the hill of Uisneach in Connacht in modern day County Westmeath. This was the site of a sacred Druidic centre known as the ‘navel of Ireland’ where the chief assembly took place. It is not known where Keating found his sources, so their authenticity cannot be verified. However, there is a story about a holy fire that was lit by a hero at Uisneach and which burned for seven years.
On the eve of Bealtaine, all hearth fires which had burned continuously for the past twelve months were extinguished. Before the sun rose, people and their animals began making their way up to the hills where the sacred fires of Bel would be burning. Wood gathered from sacred trees fuelled gigantic fires that were separated by a narrow passage. There is no historical evidence of what trees were used, but it is generally thought that they were alder, ash, birch, hawthorn, hazel, holly, rowan, willow and oak. A circular trench symbolising the sun encircled the fires and the ceremony was led by Druids dressed in white robes.
Before the lighting of the bonfires or Bel fires, the needfire ‘tein-eigen’ was first kindled with flint and steel. In some regions, the ritual lighting of this fire was much more elaborate and took eighty one men (nine times nine) taking it in turns to rub two well seasoned planks of oak together. In other places, an oak wimble was placed in a hole in the middle of an oak plank and rubbed in a circular motion. The friction would eventually create the spark that would light the Bel fires. Sometimes a species of mushroom was added to help ignite the fire. At dawn, the sacrificial offering (a human or animal) was divided up and thrown onto each pile of sacred wood, after which they were lit. The men that lit the fires had to be carefully chosen because if one of them did not possess a good heart then the wood would either not light or the fire’s purifying and protecting attributes would be weakened.
As soon as the fires began burning, people started walking around the circle in a sunwise direction. This they did three times and then the cattle were led through the fire passage three times. After the flames had subsided, it was the turn of the sick animals to be herded through the glowing embers; followed by the sheep and then the horses. Once all of the animals had been fumigated with the sacred smoke, cleansing and protecting them from disease, people began sprinkling each other with the sacred ashes or blackening their faces with it. Torches made from dried sedge or heather were lit from the needfire and men walked around the animals with them to ensure fertility and further protection. The men also walked around their fields and homes, whirling the torches as they went; mimicking the path of the sun. Their final destination was the kitchen hearth which was reborn once more. The hearth fire’s potent strength would last until the following Bealtaine Eve, but only if it was never allowed to die out.
The dying embers of the bonfire were doused with water and brought back home to be added to animal feed for protection or scattered on fields to protect crops from pests. Sometimes the ashes were stored away safely to be added later to water which was drunk when ill or could be sprinkled on an ailing body part.
Martainn MacGilleMhartainn who wrote, ‘A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland’ in 1695, says that the needfire was not given to people who had not paid their debts or had avoided their responsibilities towards the church.
Village elders stayed behind to appease the weather and any animal that might damage or kill livestock and crops. Dairy and eggs were put in a hollow stone or a warm concoction called the Bealtaine Caundle (similar to custard or gruel) was poured onto the ground as offerings. The consecrated ‘Bonnach Bealltaine’ was offered up next and an elder would throw pieces of this bread over his left shoulder whispering prayers or charms under his breath.
These rituals were passed down the generations in one form or another until the 19th century. In the Scottish Highlands during the 18th century, people cut square trenches, leaving a piece of untouched turf in the middle for a fire. An offering of a caundle of eggs, oatmeal, butter and milk was poured onto it. Those who participated in the ritual feasted on beef and whisky. Each person took an oatmeal cake which had nine square bumps on the top; each bump represented a spirit that could be called upon to protect crops and livestock. Facing the fire, they broke off one of the bumps and throwing it over their shoulder would say, “This I give to thee, preserve thou my horses; this to thee, preserve my sheep.” The same was done with animals that could harm their livestock and crops. “O fox, spare thou my lambs; this to thee, O hooded Crow; this to thee, O Eagle.” There were many variations of these rituals.
The Bealtaine Cake, ‘Bonnach Beal-tine’, was a large cake made with eggs and had a scalloped edge. When the cake was shared out, everyone feared receiving the piece called the ‘Cailleach Beal-tine,’ or the Bealtaine Carlin. When everyone knew who the Carlin was, the person was dragged towards the fire and then ‘rescued’. Eggs were thrown at them and the horrid title of the ‘Cailleach Beal-tine’ would be theirs for the rest of the year. John Ramsey of Ochtertyre, who was a patron of the Scottish poet Robert Burns, compiled a collection of Scottish traditions in the late 18th century. He wrote that the ‘Cailleach Beal-tine’ had to jump over the fire three times to complete the Carlin ceremony. The word cailleach means ‘old woman’ and was commonly used in a debasing or fearful way throughout Gaelic speaking Scotland.
As the years passed, fires were lit to keep fairies and witches away. Witches could not be allowed to disguise themselves as hares and steal milk from the byre or even borrow a horse. Piles of furze, straw and broom were set alight just after sunset on Bealtaine Eve by herdsmen. They held hands while dancing three times around the fire in a sunwise direction and ran through the smoke with pitchforks of burning straw shouting, “Fire! Blaze and burn the witches! Fire! Fire! Burn the witches!” One of the herdsmen laid himself down as close to the fire as possible, allowing the smoke to blow over him whilst the others jumped over his body. In some regions, a large round barleymeal or oat cake was rolled through the ashes and in other areas men scattered the ashes over as large an expanse of area as possible while continuing their cries of “burn the witches!”
On the Shetland Islands, the Bealtaine fires blazed for three days. Men danced and sang around them and competed with one another to see who could jump over the highest flames without hurting himself. Fathers jumped across the flames with babes in arms. A man partaking in an arduous journey would jump back and forth three times across the fire for a safe and successful return. A pregnant woman might gingerly step over the dying embers for the safe delivery of her baby or a young woman who wanted to find a husband. Everyone wished to be blessed and protected, reciting personal prayers as they leapt.
On the Isle of Man, fires would be lit and their smoke blown over cattle and fields. Their hearth fires were also relit with these sacred flames. In later times, gorse bushes were set alight to keep fairies and witches away.
Children enjoyed their own Bealtaine feasts, eating eggs, bannocks and cheese. The bannocks were rolled down a hill before being eaten and a small piece was left behind for the cuckoo. F. Marian McNeill believes this might have been a folk memory of the offering that was left behind for birds of prey. The bannocks were marked with a cross and if they landed with the cross facing down it was a sign of bad luck to come.
Oatcakes baked at Bealtaine were normally glazed over with a thin batter of whipped egg, milk, cream and some oatmeal. Bealtaine cheese was from ewe’s milk and made before sunrise which helped to keep the fairies away for the year. Bannocks had to be eaten by sunrise on the first day of Bealtaine. A poem by Alexander Scott in the 16th century listed foods that were enjoyed at Bealtaine as; “Butter, new cheese, and beer in May, rabbits, cockles, curds and whey”. Another poem called ‘Atberim frib, lith saine’ mentions that ale, root vegetables, curds and ‘suabais’ which means sweet foods were enjoyed.
At Bealtaine, fairies, witches and creatures of the Otherworld were known to cause havoc and every precaution had to be taken. Rowan wood was the best protector, but elder or juniper could also be used. Rowan twigs were gathered to make crosses that were tied with red wool and hung above lintels in homes and outbuildings where animals were kept. The crosses were even put in the midden (rubbish heap) to keep witches from congregating there. A circlet also made from a rowan twig was placed underneath the milk-boyne to prevent the milk from being stolen by fairies. Ivy and bramble were used for the same reason and could either be intertwined with the rowan or used separately. At Bealtaine and Hallowe’en, the folk of Strathspey, Scotland, made a large hoop out of rowan which sheep and lambs walked through once in the morning and again in the evening. In Breadalbane, Scotland, it was traditional for the dairymaid to herd the cattle to the ‘sheilings’ (huts that were built on summer grazing land and housed farmers, shepherds, herdsmen and their families) on Bealtaine morning with a rowan ‘wand’ freshly cut on that day. Afterwards she placed it above the door of the barn until the cows returned at Hallowmas. Some people tied rowan twigs with red thread to the tails of their cows before they went to their summer pastures. Red thread tied to cows’ tails stopped the milk going from your cows to the neighbours’ cows. In northern Scotland, herdsmen would make rowan crosses on Maundy Thursday and put them aside until Bealtaine. Then they would decorate the crosses with wild herbs and hang them above the door of the byre. Charm stones used for healing were seen as very protective at Bealtaine and were put in the water that was sprinkled over livestock. Tar painted on the ears and horns of cattle and the use of urine were all believed to be effective methods.
Visiting holy wells and saining (Gaelic for blessing, protecting or consecrating) with their waters was a common activity at Bealtaine. The morning dew of Bealtaine was known as the Druids’ holy water and it is said that they collected it before the sun rose, in a hollowed out stone that was made specifically for this purpose. If you were to sprinkle some onto yourself then you were guaranteed good health and happiness. Young women washed their faces with dew for beautiful skin. Milk maids would drag a rope, across dew covered grass, that was made from the tail hair of Highland Cattle. Hair rope was usually used as cart rope, but in this case it was used as a charm to encourage cows to produce more milk. Some ropes had knots running along them made from the hair of each of the dairy cows. While pulling the rope across the grass the milkmaid would say the words, “Milk of this one above, milk of that one below, into my own big pail.” This charm was recorded in 1879 in an area south of the river Tay in Scotland.
There was a superstitious belief that if you gave someone fire from your own hearth at Bealtaine, then you would not only be giving your luck away, but you would also be allowing the person, who was most probably a witch, to have power over your household. This belief was common in the 19th century across the Highlands, the Hebrides and Galloway.
No matter whether it was dry or pouring down with rain, the cattle had to be herded to the sheilings (buaile in Irish) on Bealtaine Day, along with the horses, sheep and goats. The fresh grass season had begun and the animals that had been stall-fed throughout the winter were ready to be turned out onto summer pastures in the mountains and moorlands. Everyone went together in mass, carrying what they needed for repairing the huts that would be home for the farmers and their families for the next six months, as well as tools, bedding and food for them to live comfortably during that time. Prayers were said to St Brigid, St Michael and the Virgin Mary for a successful summer. Transhumance, the seasonal movement of livestock from their winter grazing grounds to their summer grazing grounds and back again, is a pastoral practice thousands of years old.
Traces of Bealtaine can be found in Wales. A lady called Marie Trevelyan said that there were still ‘May Day’ fires burning in Glamorgan in the 1830’s. She reported that nine men would empty their pockets and take out all of their money and any items made of metal. The men went into the woods and collected wood from nine different trees. When they returned, they cut a circle shape into the turf and placed the wood in the middle. Two oak branches were then rubbed together to start the fire. The fires were called bonfires or ‘coelcerth’ in Welsh. Round oatmeal and brown meal cakes would be sliced up and put into a small flour bag. Each person attending the ritual took out a piece and the last slice left was for the person holding the bag. All the people who pulled a piece of brown meal cake could leap across the fire three times signifying that they would have a successful harvest. Fires were also recorded in Trefedryd in Montgomeryshire. These areas are more English then Welsh. I will explain the significance of this later on.
In 19th century Ireland, it was traditional for yellow primroses or marshmallows to be scattered in front of doors to keep the household safe from uncanny forces. If flowers could not be found then people drew crosses with chalk over their doors or made crosses out of birch or hawthorn. In Somerset, rue, hemlock and rosemary were burned by men who had been blessed by the local parson. If a hare was seen near any cattle during Bealtaine it was killed straight away. No one could take the risk that the hare was a witch in disguise.
Professor Ronald Hutton has found no historical evidence of fire rituals in England before two hundred and fifty years ago, apart from in Cumbria, which is not too far from Scotland, and Devon and Cornwall. Across England, the month of May was a time for celebrating the arrival of summer and not a time for defending crops and livestock against natural and supernatural threats. This means that the origins of May Day come from somewhere else. What Hutton has also discovered is that even though the fire rituals and protection charms fit loosely within the areas of ‘Celtic’ speaking peoples in the British Isles, they are not found at all in areas of ‘Celtic’ speaking peoples on the continent. However, evidence of these types of rituals can be found in countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Saxony, Silesia, Moravia, Bohemia and Austria, regions that all practiced transhumance. This would suggest that the fire rituals of Bealtaine have no connection to a specific ethnicity, language or culture, but to the pastoral tradition of moving livestock from one grazing ground to another.
I hope you enjoyed reading about the origins and traditions of Bealtaine as well learning that Bealtaine and May Day are not the same festival. My next post will be on the traditions and origins of May Day. Take care everyone.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Celts And Germans: The Early Literary Evidence compiled by V.S. White (2009)
Celtic Mythology by Arthur Cotterell (2000)
The Celtic Tradition by Caitlin Mathews (1995)
The Pagan Celts by Anne Ross (1986)
The Celtic Heroic Age edited by John T. Koch and John Carey (2017)
Celtic Women by Peter Berresford Ellis (1995)
The Lost Beliefs Of Northern Europe by Hilda Ellis Davidson (1993)
Druids by Anne Ross (2004)
The British Celts And Their Gods Under Rome by Graham Webster (1986)
Dictionary Of Celtic Religion And Culture by Bernhard Maier (1997)
Animals In Celtic Life And Myth by Miranda Green (1992)
The Celtic World edited by Miranda Green (1996)
A Calendar Of Scottish National Festivals volume 2 by F. Marian McNeill (1959)
The Stations Of The Sun by Ronald Hutton (1996)
Wonderfully informative! I will now be making crosses tied with red yarn from ash and birch and circlets of brambles. There are no rowan trees where I live but I will adapt the tradition and embrace it.
This is wonderful! Really enjoyed reading such a detailed account, thank you!