Bealtaine.

Hurray! It's the first day of May. Officially the first day of summer. In times gone by, and still to this day in some rural parts of Ireland, it was known as Bealtaine. The word comes from buaile and tine. Buaile were the high summer pastures to which the cattle were moved to around now, and tine means fire. Traditionally, balefires were lit all across the country to symbolically bring warmth back to the land.

I recently came across a load old photos of some of some May Day celebrations when the older two were little. It made me realise how little we've been doing to celebrate the seasons over the last couple of years. The madness of life has eaten up the time we dedicated to keeping the cycle of the year alive. I really want the younger two to have the magic that the older two had.



Look at little Girl! This photo just captures her perfectly as she was then. It breaks my heart...



We had a magical day in Judith's garden on this particular day. All those little fairies... and I doubt a single one of them would be seen in a fairy dress now...sigh...



So, we're off now to leave some food out for the fairies, and a Happy May Day to you all!