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30th April
May Eve/ Beltane
Cailleach Bheur. Source: Townhomestead website
Beltane, the festival which marks the transition from spring to summer, is probably of the most ancient of the old pagan festivals. Beltane Eve marks the annual death of the old Celtic goddess of the winter, the blue skinned and aged Cailleach Bheur. She is the daughter of the winter sun, Grianon and on the last day of April she turns into stone, although some legends maintain she turns into a beautiful young woman at this point and becomes the goddess of summer for the next six months.
In the Highlands, the so-called Beltane Bannocks on this day were made. Resembling hot cross buns, the bannocks had the eternal sign of life, the cross, on one side and on the other a symbol of death and were rolled downhill three times at the end of which they were examined. If the bannock had come to a rest cross side up, then good fortune was ensured for the year ahead for its roller; if the other side of the bannock was revealed, then ill fortune or even death was prophesied for the roller. A more sinister tradition is associated with May Day Cakes, in which he or she who picks out a sootened cake from the bag of cakes being passed around, becomes a victimised scapegoat for the summer season, a distant memory of ancient sacrifice to the Beltane god, Baal, perhaps.
The Cailleach by Niamh Orourke - The Cailleach is a very ancient Irish deity mentioned many times in early Irish mythological texts. She is the old hag, witch, seer, prophetess and goddess.
Prayer to An Cailleach for Snow
I pray to An Cailleach,
Who brings the cold in her wake,
to bring me winter weather
of snow and of ice.
Bless this land with frost
and bless this land with snow.
For it is hardly a winter here without such.
To you, An Cailleach,
The Hag of Winter’s Breath,
I pray to you
give you blessings upon blessing.
lexsang