BELTANE

also spelled Beltine, Irish Beltaine or Belltaine, also known as Ctamain festival held on the first day of May in Gaelic-speaking lands, celebrating the beginning of summer and open pasturing. Beltane is first mentioned in a glossary attributed to Cormac, bishop of Cashel and king of Munster, who was killed in 908. Cormac describes how cattle were driven between two bonfires on Beltane as a magical means of protecting them from disease before they were led into summer pastures-a custom still observed in Ireland in the 19th century. In early Irish lore a number of significant events took place on Beltane, which long remained the focus of folk traditions and tales in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. As did other pre-Christian Celtic peoples, the Irish divided the year into two main seasons. Winter and the beginning of the year fell on November 1 (Irish: Samain) and midyear and summer on May 1 (Irish: Beltaine). These two junctures were thought to be critical periods when the bounds between the human and supernatural worlds were temporarily erased; on May Eve, witches and fairies roamed freely, and measures had to be taken against their enchantments. Cormac derives the word Beltaine from the name of a god Bel, or Bil, and the Old Irish word tene, "fire." Despite linguistic difficulties, a number of 20th-century scholars have maintained modified versions of this etymology, linking the first element of the word with the Gaulish god Belenos (Irish: Belenus).