Beltane, Beltein

[Gael. bealltainn, bealtuinn = the name for May 1, when summer was considered to begin. Ultimate etym. unknown. The word has no connection with Baal, Bel, or Belus.] 1. Celtic Myth .: A superstitious observance now or formerly practised among the Scottish and Irish Celts, as well as in Cumber land and Lancashire. The Scotch observed the Beltane festival chiefly on the 1st of May (old style), though in the west of that country St. Peter's Day, June 29, was preferred. In Ireland there were two Belteins, one on the 1st of May, and the other on the 21st of June. The ceremonies varied in different places, but one e ential part of them everywhere was to light a fire. At Call an der, in Perth shire, the boys went to the moors, cut a table out of sods, sat round it, lit a fire, cooked and ate a custard, baked an oatmeal cake, divided it into equal segments, blackened one of these, drew lots, and then compelled the boy who drew out the blackened piece to leap three times through the fire, with the view of obtaining for the district a year of prosperity. In Ireland cattle were driven through the fire. Originally human sacrifices may have been offered, and then, as primitive society began to discern the cruelty of this practice, it may have been deemed enough for the victim to pa through the fire in place of being burnt to death. Then, cattle would be substituted for human beings, and, last of all, cakes, meal, and fruit would be offered in the natural course of transition from bloody to unbloody sacrifices. (SACRIFICE, s., II. 1.] Merrymakings came at length to attend the Beltane festival. [See the examples under the compound words.] "At Beltane , quhen ilk bodie bownis To Peblis to the Play, To heir the sing in and nd the sound is, The solace, suth to sav. Peblis to the Play, st. 1. Beltane-fire, s. The fire lit on occasion of the Beltane festival. Beltane-game, s. The game played at the festival. IMG:content-1222.png:[blocks in formation] "Where with puff'd cheek the belted hunter blew." Tennyson: Palace of Art. 2. Affixed by a belt. "With belted sword and spur on heel." Scott Lay of the Last Minstrel, 1. 4. 3. Surrounded as with a belt. park-like meadow iand belted and interspersed with ornamental woods..."- " -Times, Oct. 30, 1875. Advt.