BYAL-tin-uh
The festival marking the start of summer, celebrated with bonfires at Uisneach and across Ireland.
Bealtaine fell around the first of May, opposite Samhain on the wheel of the year, and marked the start of summer. Cattle were driven out to their summer pastures, often between two bonfires whose smoke was believed to protect the herd from disease for the season ahead.
Uisneach, traditionally reckoned the ritual centre of Ireland, was the site of the greatest of these fires: tradition holds that a Bealtaine blaze lit there by the High King could be seen from every corner of the island, and that other fires across Ireland were rekindled from it. The Lebor Gabála Érenn places the arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Ireland on Bealtaine, wrapped in a mist that darkened the sun for three days.
Bealtaine's name shares its likely root, "bright fire," with the wider custom of lighting fires at the start of summer, and its rites of protection and renewal made it one of the year's four great quarter-day festivals alongside Samhain, Imbolc, and Lúnasa.
| Cycle | Entries here | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| The Mythological Cycle | 17 | The oldest of the four cycles, telling of the Tuatha Dé Danann and the successive invasions of Ireland. |
| The Fenian Cycle | 6 | Tales of Fionn mac Cumhaill and his band of warriors, the Fianna, set generations after the Ulster Cycle in a world of hunting, romance, and roaming adventure. |
| The Ulster Cycle | 12 | The heroic tales of Conchobar mac Nessa's court at Emain Macha, centered on Cú Chulainn and the great cattle raid of the Táin Bó Cúailnge. |
| The Historical Cycle | 1 | Also the Cycle of the Kings — legendary and semi-legendary tales of Ireland's High Kings, treated by medieval scribes as genuine national history. |
Bealtaine is the Gaelic festival marking the start of summer, falling around May 1st, traditionally celebrated with bonfires and the driving of cattle between two fires for protection before they were put out to summer pasture.
Yes — Bealtaine falls on the same date as May Day and shares its general theme of welcoming summer, though Bealtaine's specific bonfire and cattle customs are distinct from the maypole traditions more associated with Britain and continental Europe.
Modern revival events, most famously the Bealtaine Fire Festival on the Hill of Uisneach, recreate the bonfire tradition, while the date also survives as an Irish public holiday (the first Monday in May).