May Day in Ireland??

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Trust me I'm a Doctor ♥

Celebrating Mayday and maypoles are more of an English tradition, no maypoles here and no festivals as far as I know, just another excuse for a booze up :)

Orla C

Oh Crazygirl ... you really don't know anything, do you.

Yes, we Pagans/witches do celebrate Beltaine, which is April 31, but quietly - Maypoles and bonfires are not common.

GreenBrigade

there may be some small anti capitalist protests this year but we dont celebrate may day.

Holidays most of us celebrate are Easter, Christmas, StPatricks Day and New Year (although not as much as the Scottish) and Halloween

Loyalists/Unionists in the North celebrate the 12th of July (Battle of the Boyne) with bon fires on the 11th of July night time.

Republicans in some areas have bonfire on either the 11th or 15th of August to commemorate internment. (when the British/RUC/Army could arrest people for no good reason and hold them without charge.

I should be doing something else

In my town they have lots of stalls in the street and some sort of a show with rides for the kids and that 'win a goldfish' business, but as the years ago by the effort they make gets less and less.

bluebell

A google search found the following

May Day / Beltaine - a history - Indymedia Ireland
The ancient Celts and Saxons celebrated May 1st as Beltane or the day of fire
and
http://our-ireland.com/articles/celtic-ireland/celtic-calendar/
The third festival of the agricultural year is Beltane (Bealtunn in Scots Gaelic, meaning May Day), celebrated April 30-May 1 ..... May Day traditions includes young people picking flowers in the woods (and spending the night there), and the dance around the May Pole, weaving red (for the god) and white (for the goddess) streamers round and round. A great bonfire celebrates the return of the sun.

Beltane (pronounced /ˈbɛltən/) is the anglicized spelling of Bealtaine (Irish pronunciation: [ˈbʲal̪ˠt̪ˠənʲə]) or Bealltainn ([ˈbʲal̪ˠt̪ˠən]), the Gaelic names for either the month of May or the festival that takes place on the first day of May ....... In Ireland the lighting of bonfires on Oidhche Bhealtaine seems only to have survived to the present day in County Limerick, especially in Limerick itself, as their yearly bonfire night .... Another common aspect of the festival which survived up until the early 20th century in Ireland was the hanging of May Boughs on the doors and windows of houses .... A revived Beltane Fire Festival has been held every year since 1988 during the night of 30 April on Calton Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland

http://www.discoverireland.ie/islands/features.aspx
One of the biggest ceremonies in the pagan calendar is Bonfire Night on on June 23rd ...... a treat called goody, white bread soaked in warm sugary milk and spices, was eaten at the bonfire

http://www.iol.ie/~marist/halo/halojohn.htm
St. John's Eve, June 23, was sometimes known as Bonfire Night in Ireland .... The fire must be lit exactly on sunset and must be watched till the next morning.

But I also found this for 2nd May .... might be worth a look
http://www.sibinfestival.com/
The word Sibín, or Sheebeen, is of Irish origin and has been used in Ireland .... for centuries to describe various kinds of illicit and after hours establishments. Places where alcohol was consumed, music played and merriment had .... chalice blazed, and man and woman danced till the early hours.

2009 it may be, and yes we are fully licensed, but we intend to recapture the magic and spirit of the late night sessions of yore with our Sibín. Musically we want to promote both new and old sounds .... The site itself, on the grounds of one of the oldest pubs in the country, is in a beautiful rural part of north Co. Dublin. We want to keep it that way and so we have placed the ‘leave no trace’ ethic at the very core of the event.

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Where I live, primroses (also called Mayflowers) are still plucked from the hedgerows and left outside the front door, to welcome the summer. Many believe there is a religious connection, to honour Mary, as May is also known as the month of Our Lady, meaning the mother of Jesus. Bonfire night is June 23rd, though there are very few bonfires now that outdoor burning has been made illegal. And yes, I remember goody - but didn't know there was a pagan connection.

You asked about festivals. At http://entertainment.ie/festival/ I found three for 1st May - Carlsberg Kilkenny Rhythm and Roots Festival, Vogler Spring Festival in Sligo (nine concerts and seventeen guest artists spanning over three hundred years of music) and Bray Jazz Festival. Fun, no doubt, but nothing to do with the old ways.

Next year, if you want a bonfire, it looks like you will have to head to Edinburgh.

tzddean

They do that in some places in England, but not here. We don't really celebrate the 1st May. What happens is that the first Monday after it is a public holiday, so people might go out at the weekend, or go on a short holiday. Some towns might have a few things going on on the Monday, but nothing very big.

Eddie F

Not really... It's a bank holiday here, which in turn means more supping time!

Crazygirl

Oh no I hope not, I hate bonfires.

People have a tendancy to throw me into one.

I presume May day is in May.

And there are no such things as wiches(in the burn them alive state). Why don't ye people check up on your metaloagy.

Symbols are for creative people. Everyone is creative. You well relate to a certain character, time and time again. They carry different forms.

You should realise people are made of flesh. They are humans. Stop the inate human desire to kill. You kill animals not people. Oh dear.
And some people are alergic to certain foods.

Man were us Cork people bored the last few months. Never give Cork people computers again.

Ye seem to have crossed the line.

Go find it. Shure us Cork women are bored.

Violence is no cure to anything. But shure people never listen to Cork people on such matters.

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