Beltane also known as Cétamain is a Festival which was done on the first day of May Historically in Ireland and Scotland or halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. Beltane celebrates the beginning of summer and the opening of the Pastures after winter. It marked the beginning of summer and it was at this time enormous bonfires would be lit. The community would quench their hearth fires in their homes, and after the festival re-lit again with the same flame as the bonfires. The cattle would be led around the bonfires or thru them as they believed it to have protective powers as the cattle goes to their pastures for the summer. During Beltane the windows and doors of homes would be decorated, along with the cattle with the white or yellow flowers such as the ones from the primrose, rowan or hawthorn tree, to be used because they believed it to evoke fire. My earliest memory of Beltane was watching people dance around the maypole. I did not have a context of why as no one explained it to me. I celebrate Beltane now by having family over and feasting on what I can provide.

“Beltane.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Apr. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beltane.