Beltyne

beltyneCelebrated on the night of 1 May, Beltaine was one of the two most important holidays of the Celtic calendar year, which was divided into two equal periods, opened by large holidays - Samhain (Samhain) on 1 November and Beltain (Beltain, Beltan) - on 1 May. These dates were associated with the most important milestones of the cattle-breeding calendar - the expulsion of cattle to summer pastures in the early days of May and its return to the stalls for the winter period - by November 1.

Since ancient times, the rituals dedicated to these two holidays had a great resemblance to each other, since in essence their semantic meaning coincided: ritual actions people sought to ensure the well-being of their family, the whole community, to preserve the basis of their well-being - cattle and crops. As on Samhain, the central ritual of the festival was to light large bonfires on the tops of the mountains or near the village of high hills.

In its origin, this rite, judging by the individual surviving fragments and its description in historical sources, is associated with the cult of the sun, which was an important part of the pagan beliefs of the ancient Celts. This is how this ritual was described in medieval sources: for a few days before May 1, the residents of the community collected fuel for the bonfires of Beltine. Only certain types of trees could be put into such a sacred fire. At the top of the mountain prepared space and fuel for two bonfires, and around both bonfires dug a round ditch, spacious enough to accommodate all the gathered.

On the eve of Beltine, the lights were extinguished in all the houses of the village. Long before dawn, residents were leaving their homes and starting to climb up the hill, chasing all their livestock in front of them. The procession was led by druids dressed in white cloaks. Having reached the place prepared for the fire, everyone stood in a ditch around the fire and silently waited for the dawn. When the East began to scarlet, especially respected people in the village made fire for the fire (by rubbing two dry pieces of wood against each other). The fire was lit with the appearance of the first rays of the sun. They sang a solemn hymn to the sun, after which the assembled three times walked around the bonfire ditch, three times also drove cattle through the fire (on the narrow passage between the bonfires), with lit torches in their hands walked around the animals, around their land plots and houses. The same torches lit a new fire in the hearth.

The purpose of the ceremonies with fire was twofold: the more ancient - propitiation and worship of the forces of nature, and above all the sun god, aimed at keeping the herds unharmed, obtaining good livestock, crops in the fields. In the Shetland Islands, the Beltan bonfires usually burned for three days, and on these days in the early morning every inhabitant of the village was to greet the sun, saying to him: "Good morning!"