Show Notes
Let's look at May Day and Beltane traditions across Britain and Ireland, from ancient fires to seasonal folk customs.
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SOURCES: Carmichael, Alexander, *Carmina Gadelica*, Vol. I (1900). Cormac mac Cuilennáin (attributed), Sanas Cormaic (c. 900–1000). Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, Faust. Part I (1808). Gregor, Walter, Folklore of the North-East of Scotland (1881). Guest, Lady Charlotte, trans., The Mabinogion (1849). Jones, Gwyn and Thomas Jones, trans., The Mabinogion (1949). Lomax, Alan, *Padstow May Day / Obby Oss Ceremony*, field film recording (1953). Pepys, Samuel, The Diary of Samuel Pepys (1660–1669). Pennant, Thomas, A Tour in Scotland (1771). Praetorius, Johannes, Blockes-Berges Verrichtung (1668). Phillips, Alan Robert, “The Rituals surrounding Calan Mai – the Welsh May Day – and their Functions” (modern essay / unpublished paper, c. 2020s). *The Irish Folklore Commission*, National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin: 20th-century field collections. Bromwich, Rachel and D. Simon Evans, eds., Culhwch and Olwen: An Edition and Study of the Oldest Arthurian Tale (1992).
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