30/04/2024

Hello everyone! Today we had a very special ramble, as it is a special evening. It is the eve of Bealtaine, which is one of the four quarter days of the pre-Christian calendar. There is a massive amount of folklore and tradition that surrounds the festival of Bealtaine, so over the next few days, I will take you with me as we walk through some of the customs.
The first thing to explain is the quarter-days. These herald in the seasons as we understand them now- Imbolc is Spring, Bealtaine is the beginning of summer, Lughnasa is the Harvest season, and Samhain (Halloween) is the winter. Each of these quarter days mark the transition into a new season, and according to tradition, they are days where the boundaries or veils between the known world and the mysterious world are at their most porous- so you have to be careful!
Also- these quarter days begin at sunset of the evening before the date, so Bealtaine begins tonight, my friends, when the sun sets, and you have things to do until noon tomorrow to protect yourself! To illustrate this, I wanted to ramble somewhere meaningful, and I found an old holy well which is always visited at Bealtaine- it is called 'Tobair na nAingeal' or the Well of the Angels, and there is a tradition of visiting the well, with a ritual involving stones, prayers and water that is undoubtedly Christian in symbol, but also has much of the pre-Christian traditions involving, well, stones, chants and water!
Myself and Robinson set out to find this well, which is near Glenfin. As we walked the gorgeous back roads, the clutches of primroses reminded me of the custom of putting spring flowers at the door and windows of your house - to keep the otherworld folk from coming inside, so the folklore goes. We were neighbourly, and when we came to a beautiful old cottage, we left some bunches there. We had some difficulty finding the well, and two wonderful women came to our aid- sisters Helen and Susan were on their way there and not only gave us direction, but a full history of the area and some of the Well stories. I got a wee interview with Helen which I will post later. She's amazing!
Helen told us that there was once a priest, during the Penal times in Ireland, when it was very dangerous to be a priest. He was spotted by the soldiers who were about to capture him, when a thick fog descended, and he managed to escape. He later returned, and blessed the nearby well. Another story from the folklore archive says that angels appeared to the soldiers and frightened them off.
Helen told me that people come to the well all the time, but especially at Bealtaine, to use the water to heal whatever ailments are bothering them, and you could see from the many mementoes that it is a place of great consolation to visitors.
But back to the pre-Christian traditions! According to folklore, May eve is a time of great risk to the home owner. Anything that is borrowed or stolen from you during May eve will cause you serious misery, as it will not return to you. You must keep your doors and windows closed- you don't even light a fire, as there is a curse/spell which can claim your possessions just by looking at the smoke from your chimney. You scatter your flowers and then it's inside with you, holding on to your milk and butter and water and refusing anyone who asks for them.
A final tradition, which my Labrador must know about, is that if you rise in the morning and rub your face in the morning dew, you will look healthy and well for the rest of the year. Or, again, depending on which story you read, it will prevent you from 'looking yellow', which doesn't sound healthy. So now you know what to do this evening- get your wild flowers on the doorstep, don't loan anything, and get up early and get that sunrise dew onto yourself.
I'll be back tomorrow with some more May / Bealtaine folklore. Enjoy.
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