1 May is known as Beltane in the ancient Gaelic tradition. Winter is over, and the summer half-year is here. In years gone by, this would be the day that cattle was driven from the coastal lands where they had spent the harsh winter months to the pastures in-land. In the Hebrides, from Lewis southwards to the Inner Hebrides, these inland pastures are referred to as shielings. Up to the first half of the 20th century, people would spend a couple of weeks in a hut on the shielings.
such as pictured above. It would be a time of fun and frolics, whilst the cows grew fat on the rich grasslands. This tradition has all but died out.
Its good that you record it as the memory of it would die too ,..love Jan xx
ReplyDeleteYou are right, our Labor Day is in September. Interesting to read about the history of yours.
ReplyDeletePam
As a child I remember the May Day rallies against poor conditions in the mines and badly paid wages.The prospect of always being bought a brand new outfit from head to toe to celebrate the first Sunday in May drew great excitement from we children.
ReplyDeleteLabour Day was celebrated more in those days than it is nowadays. You do right keeping a log of these moments in time Guido. I for one should as my grandfather worked in the mines and rallied alongside Keir Hardy the Statesman who was born in the same village I was. If it wasn't for men like Keir and my grandfather there would have been no National Health or Labour Party.
This sounds pretty good, Guido. I'd love to have fun and frolic for a couple of weeks while my cows grew fat. Trouble is, I have no cows, darn it. This was interesting, I enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteSam
I had not realized this, so thanks for the interesting info. And, yes, our "labor" day is celebrated typically as an extension into a 3-day weekend the first weekend (and hence first Monday) in September. Schools never used to start up until after Labor day when I grew up, but seems most do these days. -- Robin
ReplyDelete