The Pagan
ceremony of lighting these fires in honour of the Asiatic god Belus gave
its name to the entire month of May, which to this day is called
_Me-na-bealtine_, in the Irish, _Dor Keating_." He says again, speaking
of these fires of _Baal_, that the cattle were driven through them and
not sacrificed, the chief design being to avert contagious disorders
from them for the year. And quoting from an ancient glossary, O'Brien
says, "The Druids lighted two solemn fires every year, and drove all
four-footed beasts through them, in order to preserve them from
contagious distempers during the current year." I am inclined to think
that these notices describe a sort of modified or Christianized Beltane,
that driving the cattle through the fire was a substitute for the older
form of sacrificing cattle to the sun. Until very lately in different
parts of Ireland, it was the common practice to kindle fires in milking
yards on the first day of May, and then men, women, and children leaped
through them, and the cattle were driven through in order to avert evil
influences.
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