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Beltane E3: Bonfires & Butter · Wild Kin: A Celtic Podcast

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Hi friend,
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welcome to Wild Kin,
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where we reconnect to Celtic myths,
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one story at a time.
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SPEAKER_00: I'm your host,
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SPEAKER_00: Jess,
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and I'd love for you to pull up a chair by my fire as we look
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at the peculiar
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SPEAKER_00: connection between the festival of Beltane,
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SPEAKER_00: cattle,
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SPEAKER_00: and butter.
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SPEAKER_00: Sacred butter, stolen butter.
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SPEAKER_00: Butter that has been buried in bogs for 3,000 years,
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SPEAKER_00: coveted by witches and traced all the way back to a magical cow.
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It turns out Beltane was part of protecting this ever-beloved
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dairy product.
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So let's step back in time to sunset on the festival's eve when
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the fires have been
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SPEAKER_00: lit and the cattle are waiting.
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The heat from the twin bonfires shimmered in the evening air,
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sparks spinning up into the stars.
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SPEAKER_00: The little girl clutched her mother's skirts,
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SPEAKER_00: watching the gathering here at the top of the hill.
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Her friends and neighbors leaned over to watch the cattle shift
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and bellow in their
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SPEAKER_00: enclosure,
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SPEAKER_00: as they nervously eyed the flames.
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SPEAKER_00: Ale had been poured long ago,
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and there was plenty of laughter while the herdsmen finished
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their preparations.
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SPEAKER_00: The girl was no taller than the cattle themselves,
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peered between the adults as she watched their hooves dig into
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the fresh spring
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grass there were babies among them too huddled close to their
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mothers just as the
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little girl stayed close to her own she watched a calf rub
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their face against a leg
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and then the two gazed at each other for a moment before the
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calf turned back for a
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SPEAKER_00: taste of their mother's warm milk
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SPEAKER_00: The druid of their village stepped into the crowd,
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SPEAKER_00: raising his arms for silence which immediately fell.
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SPEAKER_00: He called on the elders in his blessing for the herd,
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SPEAKER_00: and soon their voices rose in unison with a song they all knew by heart.
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SPEAKER_00: Then others from the village joined,
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SPEAKER_00: repeating the lines until a thrum fell over the crowd,
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SPEAKER_00: pulsing in time with the heat from the fire.
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SPEAKER_00: Then the herdsman stepped forward with a switch as he opened the gate.
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A rush of hooves and tails passed by the girl,
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their scent filling the air.
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She climbed up onto a boulder to watch as they were funneled
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down between the
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SPEAKER_00: crowd,
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SPEAKER_00: eyes wide with fear,
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SPEAKER_00: as they had no choice but to run toward the flames.
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SPEAKER_00: They passed safely between the fires to the other side,
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slowing to a trot as if dazed from the excitement as they
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stepped into a moonlit
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SPEAKER_00: pasture of their summer home.
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SPEAKER_00: Now cleansed of evil spirits,
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SPEAKER_00: the herd could grow round with sweet grasses,
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SPEAKER_00: and with any luck,
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SPEAKER_00: the gods would bless them with another prosperous year.
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SPEAKER_00: The villagers began to make their way down the hill,
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SPEAKER_00: ready to celebrate the beginning of the season.
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Fresh bread wafted from the homes below amidst the rest of
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their awaiting feast.
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The girl could practically taste a slice slathered in fresh
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churned butter waiting for her.
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SPEAKER_00: There was a time,
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SPEAKER_00: not so long ago,
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SPEAKER_00: when these great bonfires blazed across the hills of Ireland.
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SPEAKER_00: Both ceremonial and practical,
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SPEAKER_00: the 1st of May was seen as the natural transition of pastoral life.
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SPEAKER_00: Cattle would be moved into their summer pastures,
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SPEAKER_00: and communities would gather as both a celebration and cleansing.
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SPEAKER_00: At the heart of this festival was the need to protect their cattle,
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SPEAKER_00: both physically and spiritually,
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SPEAKER_00: as the villages relied on their herds for their wealth and food.
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We know about these cattle rituals from a manuscript called
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Cormac's Glossary,
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SPEAKER_00: recorded in the 10th century by Irish monks.
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SPEAKER_00: It describes this practice of Druids driving cattle through the Beltine,
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SPEAKER_00: translated as bright fire,
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SPEAKER_00: with great incantations to protect the animals from disease.
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SPEAKER_00: Aside from this supernatural element,
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There's actually evidence that this could have been physically
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beneficial too,
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SPEAKER_00: as fleas and ticks can fall away when exposed to smoke.
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The practice clearly persisted,
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with similar versions being observed for centuries after.
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SPEAKER_00: So the Beltane Festival was likely a ritualistic kind of cleansing,
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and there are records of similar cleansing practices as
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recently as the 1850s.
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SPEAKER_00: Known as a knead fire,
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farmers in Scotland would perform this ceremony when their herd
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was at risk of
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SPEAKER_00: dying.
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The story goes that the farmer would dig a pit to sacrifice an
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ox before all other
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SPEAKER_00: fires in the community were extinguished.
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Then he would light the knead fire using only the friction of
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two pieces of wood,
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SPEAKER_00: which meant no flint or steel to help create the sparks.
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SPEAKER_00: This fresh fire was seen as pure, and so once it was burning,
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the farmer drove his remaining cattle between the flames to
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stop whatever evil
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SPEAKER_00: force was spreading through them.
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SPEAKER_00: Nearly identical fire rituals can be found across Scotland,
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SPEAKER_00: Ireland,
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SPEAKER_00: Scandinavia,
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SPEAKER_00: Germany,
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SPEAKER_00: and the Slavic world.
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SPEAKER_00: It must have been a widespread practice,
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as the Christian church actually condemned these need fires as
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early as 742 AD,
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SPEAKER_00: pointing to just how pervasive they must have been in Europe.
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SPEAKER_00: Perhaps it seems strange to make such a fuss about cleansing cows,
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SPEAKER_00: but cattle were the highest marker of status in the Celtic Iron Age.
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SPEAKER_00: We know this from the Brehan laws,
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SPEAKER_00: an ancient legal code system that was carried on through the Middle Ages.
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SPEAKER_00: People within the system had an honor price,
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SPEAKER_00: which was their literal social worth,
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SPEAKER_00: and it wasn't measured in coins,
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SPEAKER_00: but in cattle.
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SPEAKER_00: If you paid a fine or debts, even a bride price,
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SPEAKER_00: everything was measured against the valuation of cattle.
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SPEAKER_00: They held your wealth,
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SPEAKER_00: your reputation,
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SPEAKER_00: and your legal standing all at once,
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SPEAKER_00: so ensuring the health of your herd was the utmost priority.
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The highest value type of cattle was the milch cow,
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a lactating mother with her baby.
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SPEAKER_00: Why?
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Because milk and its byproducts of butter were the most
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valuable commodities a person could own.
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SPEAKER_00: In fact,
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butter as a form of wealth goes back even farther than the Iron
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Age Celts.
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In Ireland,
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archaeologists have found slabs of ancient butter tucked away
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into peat bogs.
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Some samples date back to the early Bronze Age,
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long before the Celts even entered the scene.
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SPEAKER_00: These bogs were a natural form of refrigeration,
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SPEAKER_00: ensuring people could store their wealth long after it was churned.
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SPEAKER_00: And beyond this practical side of storage,
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it's believed the Irish peat butter might have also been used
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as a ritual offering,
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SPEAKER_00: possibly related to Beltane,
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SPEAKER_00: as it's been found deposited in bogs near valuables like gold,
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SPEAKER_00: weapons,
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SPEAKER_00: and cauldrons.
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This reverence for dairy isn't just known within archaeological
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evidence either,
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SPEAKER_00: as it's woven throughout Celtic mythology too.
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SPEAKER_00: It seems there was nothing more magical than ever-flowing milk.
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SPEAKER_00: One of the oldest folk tales in Ireland is the Gloss Gaveland,
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SPEAKER_00: translated as the Grey Cow of the Smith.
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SPEAKER_00: This magical cow could fill any vessel you placed before her for milking,
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SPEAKER_00: no matter how big it was.
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SPEAKER_00: She was known to wander the Irish countryside,
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SPEAKER_00: with fields she lay in still bearing her name today.
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SPEAKER_00: One story says,
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SPEAKER_00: as she traveled,
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SPEAKER_00: droplets of milk would spill from her udders,
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SPEAKER_00: creating a trail across the sky,
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SPEAKER_00: now known as the Milky Way.
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SPEAKER_00: Though the glass is a pagan story,
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her magical properties didn't disappear when Christianity
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arrived on the island.
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SPEAKER_00: She simply found a new home within the country's most beloved saint.
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One of the most famous deities in Ireland is Brigid,
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known as both a goddess and saint.
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She was well known for keeping a special white cow with red
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ears whose milk had
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SPEAKER_00: healing properties and would flow everlasting.
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When Brigid would turn butter,
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it would always multiply so no one would go hungry either.
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So whether through the mystical Celtic stories of the glass or
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Brigid's saintly
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SPEAKER_00: abundance,
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SPEAKER_00: the pattern is consistent that dairy was seen as sacred,
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which is why these ceremonial rituals like Beltane were held
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for centuries to
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SPEAKER_00: ensure their cows were protected.
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SPEAKER_00: because it wasn't just disease that risked people's livelihoods.
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SPEAKER_00: There was also the chance of evil spirits looming near.
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By the time we reached the 18th and 19th centuries,
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butter had become a major cash commodity.
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The ritual of gathering for Beltane fires and cattle cleansing
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had died out,
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but there are records noting other forms of protection for
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their beloved dairy
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SPEAKER_00: products.
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SPEAKER_00: Straw ropes were known to be placed around cows' necks on May Eve.
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Or on May morning,
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cows would be struck with a switch to prevent any evil from
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affecting them.
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SPEAKER_00: Household fires were still being extinguished on May Eve too.
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But rather than for a community cleansing,
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this was for another form of evil spirit entirely.
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SPEAKER_00: The Butter Witch.
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Putting out your hearth fire ensured she couldn't see smoke
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coming from your
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SPEAKER_00: chimney,
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SPEAKER_00: which was a sure target for butter stealing.
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SPEAKER_00: Clearly by this time,
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echoes from the medieval witch panics had left an impression on
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the Irish.
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Old hags and shapeshifters were believed to roam the
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countryside in pursuit of their prize.
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This witch was known to use various methods to steal her
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neighbor's dairy luck,
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SPEAKER_00: or she could turn into a hare to suckle on cows,
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SPEAKER_00: so you had to be sure to drive off any that came near on May Day.
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SPEAKER_00: but there were plenty of ways to keep her at bay.
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Thresholds would be laid with marsh marigolds and other water
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types of plants,
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SPEAKER_00: as witches couldn't cross water,
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SPEAKER_00: of course.
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SPEAKER_00: Or,
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SPEAKER_00: if you heated a plow coulter,
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SPEAKER_00: which was the sharp blade used to cut through the soil,
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SPEAKER_00: under a butter churn,
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SPEAKER_00: this would apparently cause the witch pain,
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SPEAKER_00: and she'd come running to the house,
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SPEAKER_00: begging to be let in.
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SPEAKER_00: Most of these stories were collected in the 1930s when the Irish Folklore
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Commission recorded folktales from 50,000 schoolchildren across
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the country,
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and a 2022 study found dairy protection beliefs running
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consistently through all of
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SPEAKER_00: them.
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SPEAKER_00: It seems like throughout time,
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SPEAKER_00: May Eve and May morning were the critical point of risk,
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a threshold moment as the period between sunset and sunrise
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held all the promise
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SPEAKER_00: for a plentiful year
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of flowing milk and healthy cattle,
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while equally holding the fear of disease and death.
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SPEAKER_00: The methodology has changed,
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from the Celts' cleansing power of fire trickling down to the
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more recent folklore
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SPEAKER_00: practices of protection from witches,
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SPEAKER_00: all were geared toward the elusive evil that had many names.
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SPEAKER_00: In the face of this anxiety,
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SPEAKER_00: though,
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SPEAKER_00: people gathered,
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coming together for thousands of years across the Celtic world
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as they sought to
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SPEAKER_00: ensure protection,
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SPEAKER_00: rebinding themselves to the land,
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SPEAKER_00: to each other,
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SPEAKER_00: and the beings who held their living wealth of the world.
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SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
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SPEAKER_00: If you'd like more Celtic-inspired stories and resources,
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SPEAKER_00: subscribe to Wild Kin Studio on Substack.
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SPEAKER_00: Link is in the show notes.
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SPEAKER_00: So glad you could join me by the fire, and we'll meet again soon.