Beltane is a festival observed on May 1 in Ireland and Scotland. It celebrates the beginning of summer and open pasturing. The first ever mention of Beltane was in a glossary attributed to Cormac, bishop of Cashel and king of Munster, who was killed in 908. The term Beltane was derived by Cormac from the name of a god Bel, or Bil, and the Old Irish word tene, meaning “fire.” Some scholars also link this term to the Gaulish god Belenos.
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