For we are up as soon as any day - oh

And for to fetch the summer home

The summer and the May - oh!

For summer now has come.

'Hah -an - tow' -  Helston Furry Dance Song

The Celtic sacred year saw the significant festival of Beltane falling on the 1st May and heralding the warmer days of summer. Its name derives from the Old Celtic meaning fire of Belos (the bright) - a god of solar healing associated with cattle. Bonfires would be lit and cattle driven between them to purify them before they were taken to the upland pastures for the summer months.  The fires were lit at dawn after the ceremony's participants had been up all night in vigil ( or revelry) in the woods. As the sun rose, its rays would bathe the watchers in its light - believed to have healing properties. The dew that had been touched by the sun's rays would be gathered in containers to be used for medicinal purposes. The idea of sunlight trapped in water being able to cure is expressed in the figure of Sulis - goddess of the healing springs at Bath. A sun goddess ( as opposed to the usual god) - she was worshipped over much of southern Britain and her most famous monument is the artificial mountain, at the Avebury megalithic complex, known as Silbury Hill.

An interesting custom among many Celtic peoples of the past occurring particularly at the equinox - Spring and Summer - was that of the 'solar' ball game - a custom to be found among many different cultures across the world. Young men would use an inflated bull's bladder covered with leather and engage in a match across the entire territory of the community kicking the ball in attempt to get it across the border of one or the other end of the village. The ball represents the sun and its passage across the boundary line is its passing from light into darkness - from winter to spring and summer to autumn. Within the confines of the game, the community could feel they were magically participating in a natural occurrence over which they actually had no control. From such ceremonies are born sports whose participants have no idea of their distant origins!

The hawthorn tree - also known as May - was the plant traditionally associated with this time of year in Celtic lands and was involved in many fertility rituals across the Celtic world - many associating it as a phallic symbol. May blossom signified new life and the traditional song 'Here we go gathering nuts in May' is actually a corruption of the words 'knots of may' - the cuttings of hawthorn wood taken for rituals. Nuts are not harvested in May!! The maypole was constructed from the hawthorn, in Brittany and in other parts of Celtic Europe, branches would be cut from the hawthorn for ceremonial uses, on Beltane eve. It was used to decorate the doors of houses and the blossoms made into garlands for the maypole.

Among Native Americans, the season of summer was also celebrated as one of fertility and passion. The wind influence for this time of year is that of the mouse - busy and energetic while the deer is the animal totem for this period, coming into her birthing time. The plants associated with this time are the flowering fruit and nut trees: cherry, peach, hazel and beech while the seashell - representing fertility - is the mineral totem. It is believed to have a balancing influence helping to calm the emotions and linking with the natural world's creative forces.