02/05/2026
Yesterday was Beltane. In gaelic or old Scots the Celtic festival of Beltane (or Beltaine, Beal-teinne) is often pronounced Baltinna, and this is where we took the name for Baltinna East and Baltinna West lodges from, and is 'the waking of the earth from her winter sleep'.:)
These great seasonal festivals of the year have their origins in the rhythm of the earth. Before science explained nature, mysteriously the seasons brought food for life's survival. But equally difficult to understand was why one year there was plenty and the next year not enough. So man kindled a symbolic bonfire in the hope it would please the life giving sun, offered sacrifices, performed symbolic acts, and hoped these would encourage nature to treat them kindly. When it did, they believed that their actions had been correct. Superstition, myth and folklore, relating to nature, was their religion. The mythical nature of worship of the Celts proved to be quite compatible with the new Christian faith which arrived in Iona with Saint Columba in the sixth century, and many nature festivals were then simply given a Christian significance.
Most Highland families used to have its own 'summer holiday cottage' of sorts in the hills. During the winter, the clansmen lived in the 'township'. The land was farmed collectively, following the runrig system; each family was assigned several strips so that everyone had a fair share of the better ground to plough. Oats, kale and barley were the staple crops. On the feast of Beltane (May 1st) the townships livestock were driven between ceremonial bonfires to ensure good health and a plentiful supply of milk or wool throughout the year, then the townships people would move the black beasts up to the sheilings - rough huts of turf or stone in the high valleys of the hills. There the youngsters could enjoy freedom from their elders, while at the same time carrying out useful work like cheese-making, spinning and weaving. The remains of such a township were excavated at nearby Raitts, and at the Newtonmore Highland Folk Park a working construction of a Highland township can be seen.
On Beltane eve all fires were extinguished, and re-lit the following morning from the 'needfire', which was kindled at sunrise on Beltane itself. Arthurs Seat in Edinburgh is one place many people assemble to this day and light May Day fires.
Beltane was considered a magical time of year, when the barriers between the ordinary world of mortals and the unseen world of Faerie grows very thin. At Beltane, encounters with the Fey-folk are most likely to be happy and tinged with good fortune. Nevertheless, many people would hang rowan twigs in the cow byres, just in case a mischievous member of the 'good people' should be tempted to steal the milk!
Because the earth's rebirth required moisture as well as heat and light, water also plays a significant part in the celebrations. Beltane dew is particularly beneficial, and those wishing success, health, happiness and beauty should wash their faces in the sparkling water at sunrise!
Beltane is considered an excellent time to pay a trip to one of the healing wells or Highland springs. The Cloutie well on Culloden Moor is one of the more famous ones.
It is tradition to cook a special bannock (round cake) of eggs, milk and oatmeal, to be eaten at breakfast to ensure there will always be food on the table in the coming year. An eighteenth century traveler wrote that "it is the custom on Beltane in many Highland villages to offer libations and cakes not only to the 'spirits' who were believed to be beneficial to the flocks and herds, but also to creatures like the fox, eagle and hoodie-crow which so often molests them"!
