May Dew

For the growth of vegetation, not only sunshine, but moisture is necessary;  hence not only fire, but water had its place in the Beltane ritual.  To the Druids, the most sacred of all water forms was dew, and to the dew of Beltane morning they attributed special virtue, gathering it before dawn in stones hollowed out for that purpose. May dew, in a word, was the ‘holy water�?of the Druids.  Those on whom it was sprinkled were assured of health and happiness, and, tradition has it, where young women are concerned, of beauty as well, throughout the ensuing year.

To this day all over Scotland numbers of young girls rise before dawn on the first of May and go out to meadow or hillside to bathe their faces in the dew.  Even in Edinburgh, little bands of the faithful may be seen making their way through the King’s Park to Arthur’s Seat, and, as in the eighteenth century,

On May-Day, in a fairy ring,
We’ve seen them round St. Anton’s spring.
Frae grass the caller dew-drops wring
To weet their een,
And water clear as crystal spring,
To synd them clean.

To ensure a good supply of milk, a woman, or sometimes two together, would draw a hair rope along the dewy grass, saying “Bainne an te so shios, bainne an te so shuas, ‘nam ghogan mhor fhein.�?nbsp;  (Milk of this one above, milk of that one below, into my own big pail.)  This rite was known as gathering dew.  The ropes were said to be made of the long hair which grew on the tails of Highland cattle, and were generally used a cart ropes.  This charm was performed south of the Tay about 1897.

“On one occasion,�?writes Miss Gordon-Cumming, “two women were caught in the very act of brushing the May dew from the pastures with a long hair tether.  They fled, leaving their tether behind them.  The man who found it hung it above the door of the cow-byre.  The consequence was that the dairymaids could not find pails enough to hold the supply of milk.  But the farmer thought this was uncanny, so he burned the rope, on which were a number of knots, every one of which exploded like a pistol-shot in the air.  In preparing such a tether, the hair of a different cow must be used for each knot.�?/FONT>