Why Do We Celebrate Beltane?

Welcome the bright half of the year with bonfires, flowers, ribbons, music, and dancing feet!

Why were cattle once guided between two great fires? What connects yellow flowers, holy wells, May bushes, hilltop flames, and modern torchlit festivals? Why Do We Celebrate Beltane? introduces young readers to an old Gaelic seasonal festival and the traditions it inspired.

Celebrated around May 1, Beltane marked the beginning of summer in the Gaelic year. Historical sources describe fire ceremonies connected with protecting cattle as families moved their herds toward fresh summer grazing.

Here is what you will discover inside:
• An Old Gaelic Festival: Learn how Beltane stood alongside Samhain, Imbolc, and Lughnasadh as one of the year's major seasonal markers.
• The Lucky Fire: Explore the medieval account of two fires, protective ceremonies, cattle, milk, farming, and the beginning of the summer grazing season.
• May Morning Customs: Discover yellow flowers, decorated May bushes, holy wells, morning dew, offerings of milk, and household traditions meant to welcome summer.
• Maypoles and Processions: Watch ribbons create woven patterns, meet the May Queen and Jack-in-the-Green, and experience Cornwall's 'Obby 'Oss (Hobby Horse) celebration.
• Beltane Revived: Visit Edinburgh's modern Beltane Fire Festival and Ireland's Hill of Uisneach, where large public fires once again welcome the season.
• Visual Delight and Careful History: Enjoy beautiful, minimalist colorful illustrations filled with cattle, bonfires, blossoms, ribbons, wells, drums, dancers, torches, and green hills.

Perfect for families, classrooms, homeschoolers, and young cultural explorers, this book celebrates seasonal change, farming history, creativity, community, and the joyful return of summer.

Grab your copy today and welcome summer with fire, flowers, and music!