84 Mr. Petrie on the History and Antiquities of Tara HilL 



reniD, ap ba hipn ^eip Cempach oc ^oeoe- that was the privilege of Temur among the Gael ; 



luib ; ocup ni lariiao nech reniD opacoD and no one dared to kindle a fire in Ireland on 



1 n-Gipino ipin lou pin, no cu n-aoannca hi that day until it should be first kindled at Temur 



nempaij ap cup ipin pollamam. at the solemnity. — Ledbhar Breac, fol. 14, a, 1. 



The custom of the celebration of the Bel-tine is thus distinctly recorded by 

 Cormac Mac CuUenan in his Glossary, under the word Belltaine : 



6ellcaine .i. bil-cene .i. cene bil .i. rene Belltaine, i. e. hil-tene, i. e. the goodly fire, 



poinriiech .i. oa rene poinmech do jnicip na i. e. two goodly [lucky] fires, which the Druids 



opaice CO cmceclaib mopaib popaib, ocup were used to make, with great incantations on 



DO Bepoip na cerpa ecupa ap cebmanouib them, and they were used to bring the cattle be- 



cecha bliaona. tween them, against the diseases of each year. 



And thus in a MS. in Trinity College, Class H. 3. 18, p. 596 : 



6elraine .i. 6el-oine : 6el, oan, ainm do Bellaine, i. e. Bel-dine : Bel was the name of 



i6al : ip ann do raippealbca Dine cacha an idol: it was on it [i.e. the festival] that a couple 

 cerpa pop peilb 6heil ; unde 6elcine. No, of the young of every cattle were exhibited as in 

 6elcine .i. 6iL-rine .i. cene rpoinmeac .i. the possession of Bel ; unde Beltine. Or, Bel- 

 oa ceniD do jnloip t)puiD co cinceclaiB tine, i. e. Bil-tine, i. e. the goodly fire, i. e. two 

 inopa, ocup do lejoip na cerpa ecappa ap goodly fires, which the Druids were used to make 

 ceDinanDaib cacha bliaona. with great incantations, and they were used to 



drive the cattle between them against the diseases 



of each year. 



It may, perhaps, be contended, against this conclusion, that the Druidical 

 festival of Bel-tin^ was, as it still is, celebrated on May-day, which is yet popu- 

 larly called La Bealltaine, or the day of Baal's fire, and that it could not, 

 therefore, be held on Holy Saturday, which at this period agreed with the vernal 

 equinox. It has, however, been argued by Dr. O'Conor, with great ingenuity 

 and plausibility, that the Bel-tine of the pagan Irish was not the May-day 

 of subsequent ages, and that the former, which was celebrated in the vernal 

 equinox, and consequently fell about the 21st of March, was, after the esta- 

 blishment of Christianity, transferred to the 1st of May, to prevent an interfe- 

 rence with the Christian Lent. To state and examine in detail the arguments 

 of Dr. O'Conor in support of this conclusion, as given in the Rerum 

 Hibernicarum Scriptores, vol. i., and in the Stowe Catalogue, would demand 

 an inquiry inconsistent with the limits proposed in this memoir, but his theory 

 may be briefly stated as follows : — 1. That the year of the pagan Irish was 

 luni-solar, consisting, like that of the Phoenicians and Egyptians, of 365 days 



