Celebrating Bealtaine at Clare Museum

Today we visited Clare Museum to learn about the Celtic festival 'Bealtaine'. Bealtaine (May Day) marks the beginning of summer in the ancient Celtic calendar and signals the end of the dark half of the year. A local storyteller, Ruth Marshall, told us some traditional folk stories associated with the beginning of summer. She showed us examples of wildflowers and herbs that grow at this time of year and taught us a song and game that children played in the past. We learned that children in the past danced around a maypole and collected wildflowers at this time of year. Ruth sang the songs 'Go Lassie go' and 'Thugamar Féin an Samhradh Linn' with us. We even crowned the May King and Queen! A great morning was had by all!