Le festival de Beltaine

Ireland is a country well known for its many folk customs, traditions and beliefs. Those are anchored in the country’s history and identity, and still nowadays so many are celebrated and regarded as an essential part of the Irish culture. Amongst them, the festival of Bealtaine, which celebrates the end of the dark cold season and the beginning of the clear and warm one. It is one of the four seasonal festivals along with Samhain, Imbolc and Lughnasadh. Actually, those are significant religious celebrations in the Celtic year. While Samhain is held around the 1st November, Imbolc the 1st February and Lughnasadh the 1st August, the festival of Bealtaine is held on 1st May, albeit its eve is included. So the work submitted here will deal with this festival, the exceptional May Day, and the folk customs, traditions and beliefs related to it.

In Old Irish, the term Beltaine is derived from a common Celtic meaning “Bright Fire”. As mentioned above, the festival of Bealtaine celebrates the departure of the cold and dark period and announces the arrival of the bright and warm summer. It is the period of change between darkness and light, cold and warmth, but it also announces the resumption of daytime activities such as hunting for hunters, agrarian and pastoral works for farmers and breeders. Indeed, at that special period, the cattle and crops were well maintained, or at least, had to be. So people did what they could to preserve those, even performing rituals. Since it was strongly believed that supernatural powers, or creatures from the other world would appear during that specific time. In fact people used to lit two big fires and then passed the cattle between these fires to purify them, protect them against any supernatural nuisance. Such as Fairies attacks, or Fairy Strokes. Indeed, those ‘creatures’ would appear during this day, or it is told that they appeared just before dawn, before the sunrise; causing victims among the cattle but also among the human beings. In a period when the cattle were essential, used as money change and widely used in trading, they would come to steal the animals and/or the milk and butter, therefore, come as a threat for the dairy production as well. And that was extremely grievous since, back then, milk was the basis of food and was widely used by the folk.

But not only for cattle, they were also a threat for human beings themselves. Indeed, one of their favourite tricks was to lead people astray from their path, from their road. Some people who walked during the night would find themselves lost in the mist, and it is told that to fool the fairies, one just had to return one’s jacket backwards. So the fairies would not recognize the concerned person. Furthermore, it was also reported that the fairies were responsible of numerous abductions, especially about children. Finally, anyone could be suddenly victim of any infirmity. One began to limp overnight, another one began to stutter, and so on. And it was said that all those ills were caused by fairies, who unlike human beings, had a certain magical power. As mentioned in his book The Year in Ireland (1972), Danaher K. wrote ‘The fairy stroke took any forms. Any sudden fall or injury or unexplained laming, deafness, loss of speech, fainting spell, distortion or swelling could be attributed to it...’ p.124

But who are those ‘Fairies’? And where do they live? While some people thought that they were ghosts, dead human beings coming back to the real world, some other talked about the mythical race named Tuatha De Danann who invaded Ireland, but having been defeated back then, they would come back during the May Day in this world under various shapes. In fact, Fairies could come back under animal shapes but also human shape. Concerning this ability, several examples come in mind, especially the famous story of the old woman who could take the appearance of a Hare to steal butter and milk. One could note about it that, in Ireland, the Hare is regarded as a very meaningful animal, as it is the oldest native mammal in the country. Still, in addition to this conception of shape changing, we could quote Lenihan E. in his Meeting the Other Crowd (2003) when he wrote ‘And you know, yourself, that the Devil can take any shape he likes. The Devil could be the person sitting next to you, your nearest friend.’ p.24. It was believed that they lived in places where there is no human. Famous places such as Ring-forts, or Raths, that cover the Irish landscape for instance; but fairies do not limit their refuges to the earth. They would live under the sea or on islands around the main country as well. They also stay in hawthorn bushes, not those who form hedges around small parcels of land but those isolated in the middle of fields and heaths. It is claimed that they would not have been planted there by man. It is even said that they would have sprouted from the dust of dead people spread throughout the world. They are sacred. That one who thinks of cutting one, is struck to death.

So it may be said that their presence was regarded as evil and ominous. Thus, during the eve of this long night (30 April) every precaution was taken to prevent any bad from these dark powers, occult creatures. In order to protect the house and all the dwellers in it, people used to build a kind of impenetrable wall made of plants. The belief in their magical power (plants) was both very strong and very ancient in the Celtic world where they were used as talismans and remedies of all kinds. Depending on the region, families used flowers, shrubs and twigs as plant protection. The brooms, buttercups

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