By T. Story-Maskelyne. 429 



The Celtic Beltnn celebrations in May throw light on its name 

 and may be considered next. 



On the first of May, the Druids drove all their cattle through 

 or between two fires to preserve them from disease for the ensuing 

 year. This pagan custom still continued in Westmeath as late as 

 as A.D. 1628, and Pennant notes that the herdsmen in every village 

 in Perthshire held their Beltan as late as 1769. 



The ceremony of burning and driving away the witches on 

 the celebrated Walpurgis Nacht (May 1st), is another instance of 

 the custom. 



"All over Europe the peasants from time immemorial have been accustomed 

 to kindle bonfires on certain days of the year, to dance around and leap over 

 them, but the origin of this custom must be sought in a Penod long prior to 

 Christianity. The earliest proof of their observance m North Europe is 

 ?urn shed by the attempt made by the Christian Synods of the eighth century 

 o put them down as heathen rites. Effigies were burnt in t^ese fires or a 

 pretence was made of burning a living person, as anciently human bemgs 

 were actually sacrificed on these occasions." ' 



Innumerable stories could be instanced of these practices, and 

 so well known were they, as to have given rise to a proverb in the 

 Hio'hlands, "he is between two heltan fires." 



The old method of renewing the sacred fire was by the friction of 

 two pieces of wood, and became a subject of dispute when the early 

 Church in Ireland tried to discountenance this old and heathen 

 practice by introducing other methods. 



To this day the modern ceremony of yearly renewmg fire can 

 be seen at the Cathedral of Florence, at Easter, and has been 

 described in an interesting article by Sir Norman Lockyer in 

 Mture, Jan. 11th, 1906; by Rev. S. Baring Gould in Strange 

 Survivals ; and by Dean Church and by Anatole le Bras as practised 



in Brittany. 



Midsummer fires appear to belong to a later date and more 

 historical period than the " May year " fires as recorded by Cormac 

 though some customs of the May years are common to the solsticial 



' Frazer, Golden Bough. 



