The Probert Encyclopaedia of Celtic Mythology

BELTANE

Beltane is the Celtic festival of the god of light. It is held in Scotland on May the 1st, and is the spring equivalent of Halloween. The Beltane of the Irish was celebrated on the 21st of June. Beltane was usually celebrated by kindling fires on the hills and eminences. In early times it was compulsory on all to have their domestic fires extinguished before the Beltane fires were lighted, and it was customary to rekindle the former from the embers of the latter. Formerly in England dancing took place to may poles in village greens to celebrate the festival, but this practice subsided during the 1970s and is now almost extinct.
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