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Beltane -

One of eight solar holidays, Beltane is the Celtic Holiday on May 1 marking the beginning of the pastoral summer season when herds are driven to summer pastures and grazing lands. Read more about this holiday on Wikipedia.org - read more

The day also marks the sun's midpoint journey between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice. Since the Celtic year was based on both lunar and solar cycles, it is possible that the holiday was celebrated on the full moon nearest the midpoint between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice. The astronomical date for this midpoint is closer to May 5 or May 7, but this can vary from year to year.

The lighting of a community Bealtaine fire from which individual hearth fires are then relit is also observed in modern times in some parts of the Celtic diaspora and by some Neopagan groups, though in the majority of these cases this practice is a cultural revival rather than an unbroken survival of the ancient tradition.

Another common aspect of the festival which survived up until the early 20th century in Ireland was the hanging of May Boughs on the doors and windows of houses and of the erection of May Bushes in farmyards. The practice of decorating the May Bush or Dos Bealtaine with flowers, ribbons, garlands and colored egg shells has survived to some extent among the diaspora as well, most notably in Newfoundland, and in some Easter traditions observed on the East Coast of the United States.

The holiday is related to May Day and Walpurgis Night.

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