SURVIVALS
The descriptions we have of the Beltane ceremonies still practiced in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries present, in Frazer’s words, ‘a curious and interesting picture of ancient heathendom surviving in our own country.�?/FONT>
Pennant, who visited the Highlands in 1772 writes: ‘The herdsmen of every village hold their Bel-tein, a rural sacrifice. They cut a square trench on the ground, leaving the turf in the middle. On that they make a fire of wood, on which they dress a large caudle of eggs, butter, oatmeal and milk. They bring, besides the ingredients of the caudle, plenty of beef and whisky, for each of the company must contribute something. The rites begin by spilling some of the caudle on the ground, by way of libation; on that, everyone takes a cake of oatmeal, upon which are raised nine square knobs, each dedicated to some particular being, the supposed preserver of their flocks and hers, or to some particular animal, the real destroyer of them. Each person then turns his face to the fire, breaks off a knob, and, flinging it over his shoulder, says: “This I give to thee, preserve thou my horses; this to thee, preserve my sheep�?–and so on. After that they use the same ceremony to the noxious animals: “This I give to thee, O Fox, spare thou my lambs; this to thee, O hooded Crow; this to thee, O Eagle.�?/FONT>
The ritual was not everywhere the same. In the parish of Callander, in Perthshire, we read, ‘Upon the first day of May, which is called Beltan or Bel-tein day, all the boys in a township or hamlet meet on the moors. They cut a table in the green sod of a round figure, casting a trench in the ground of such circumference as to hold the whole company. They kindle a fire and dress a repast of eggs and milk in the form of a custard. They knead a cake of oatmeal, which is toasted at the embers against a stone. After the custard is eaten up, they divide the cake into so many portions, as similar as possible to one another in size and shape, as there are persons in the company. They daub one of these portions all over with charcoal until it be perfectly black. They put all the bits of cake into a bonnet. Everyone, blindfolded, draws out a portion. He who holds the bonnet is entitled to the last bit. Whoever has drawn the blackened bit is the devoted who is to be sacrificed to Bel, whose favour they mean to implore, in rendering the year productive of the sustenance of man and beast. There is little doubt of these inhuman sacrifices having been once offered in this country�?although they now pass from the act of sacrifice, and compel the devoted person to leap three times through the flames; with which the ceremonies of this festival are closed.�?/FONT>
In the same parish, Frazer tells us, when the fire had died down the ashes were carefully collected in the form of a circle and a number of stones were ranged near the circumference, each having an identification mark—one for each member of the various families interested in the bonfire. Next morning the stones were examined, and if any was found to have been misplaced or injured, the person it represented was reckoned ‘fey’—that is, doomed to calamity or death within the next twelve months.
At Logierait, also in Perthshire, ‘After kindling the bonfire with tein-eigen (needfire) the company prepared their victuals. As soon as they had finished their meal, they amused themselves in singing and dancing round the fire. Towards the close of the entertainment, the person who officiated as master of the feast produced a large cake baked with eggs and scalloped round the edge, called an bonnach beal-tine—i.e., the Beltane cake. It was divided into a number of pieces, and distributed in great form to the company. There was one particular piece which whoever got was called cailleach beal-tine—the Beltane carline, a term of great reproach. Upon his being known, part of the company laid hold of him and made a show of putting him into the fire; but the majority interposing, he was rescued. In some places they laid him flat on the ground, making as if they would quarter him. Afterwards he was pelted with egg-shells, and retained the odious appellation during the whole year.�?/FONT>
In 1885 it was still customary in Perthshire for the cowherd of the village to go from house to house on May morning, collecting fresh eggs and meal, and then lead the way to some hilltop, where he and his comrades dug a hole and lit a fire. Lots were cast, an the lad on whom the lot fell was obliged to leap seven times over the fire, whilst the others danced round in a circle. Then they cooked their eggs and cakes, and all sat down and made a feast.
The Beltane rites as carried out in Moray are described by the historian of that province:--
‘Upon Maundy Thursday the several herds cut staves of service wood about three feet long, and put two cross sticks into clefts in one end of the staff. These staves they laid up till the first of May. On that day several herds met together; everyone had two eggs and a bannock or thick cake of oatmeal crusted over with the yolk of eggs. They raised a pile of dry wood or sticks on a hillock, and striking fire with a flint they kindled the pile; then they made the deas-soil (sunwise circuit) thrice round the fire; after which they roasted their eggs and ate them with a part of the bread. The rest of the bread they brought home, to be eaten by the family; and having adorned the heads of their staves with wild herbs, they fixed them on the tops, or above the doors of their several cots; and this they fancied would preserve the cattle from diseases till next May.�?
In Aberdeenshire and the North-East, the Beltane fires were commonly lit not on the first, but on the second of May, O.S. On that night, the witches were abroad. They would enter the byre in the form of hares to steal the milk from the cows or borrow a horse from the stable to carry them to their midnight ride, and the main object of the bonfires was to counteract their machinations. Old thatch, straw, furze, and broom, was piled up by the herdsmen of several farms and set on fire a little after sunset. When it was ablaze, they joined hands and danced round it three times, sunwise. Whilst some of them kept tossing the blazing mass, others hoisted portions of it on pitchforks and poles and ran hither and thither, and the rest of them ran through the smoke shouting, ‘Fire! Blaze and burn the witches! Fire! Fire! Burn the witches!�?nbsp; When the flames were leaping high, each in turn laid himself on the ground as near the fire as he dared without risk, and let the smoke roll over him; whilst the others ran through the smoke and jumped over the one recumbent. In some districts a large round cake of oat or barley meal was rolled through the ashes. When the fire had quite burned out, the youths scattered the ashes far and wide, and till the night grew dark, they continued to run through them crying, ‘Fire! Fire! Burn the witches!�?/FONT>
At the end of the eighteenth century, according to the Old Statistical Account, the herds and young people of Loudon, in Ayrshire, retained the custom of kindling fires on the high grounds. Originally carried out at Beltane, it was transferred to St. Peter’s Day (June 29th). In 1895, a woman in Arran recounted how her father and other men of the townland made the need-fire on the knoll on ‘La buidhe Bealltain,�?the Yellow Day of Beltane, and fed the fire with great bundles of sacred faggots brought to the knoll on Beltane Eve. When the fire was kindled, the people drove their herds through and round it, to sain them from the great arch-witch MacCrauford.
The Shetlanders, too, celebrated Beltane, the lads dancing round their bonfires and singing sea-carols. He was considered the best man of the lot who could jump over the bonfire without injury. As late as the eighteen-seventies, fathers took their children in their arms and leapt through the flames. The fires were kept blazing for three days, and the sun was respectfully greeted with, “Gude morneen, an�?shaw your e’e.�?nbsp; “In a land where the sun is chary of its light,�?comments Mrs. Saxby, “folk clung to anything that seemed likely to propitiate the Power from which came all good gifts. So it seemed.�?nbsp; The fishermen had their own Beltane-foys (feasts), each party consisting, as a rule, of a six-aern crew, with their women-folk. The toast was drunk: “Gude haud his haund aboot da corn and�?blaw da bait idda (into the) fishes�?mooth.�?/FONT>
The Beltane fires, accompanied with great festivity, blazed throughout the Highlands until the middle of the nineteenth century.
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