Editing Beltane (section)

====Other customs====
[[File:Holy Well, Slieve League, Co. Donegal (31636807885).jpg|thumb|Men visiting a holy well in County Donegal in the 1890s]]
[[Holy well]]s were often visited at Beltane, and at the other Gaelic festivals of Imbolc and Lughnasadh. Visitors to holy wells would pray for health while walking [[sunwise]] (moving from east to west) around the well. They would then leave offerings; typically coins or [[wikt:clootie|clootie]]s (see [[clootie well]]).<ref name="Danaher" /> The first water drawn from a well on Beltane was thought to be especially potent, and would bring good luck to the person who drew it. Beltane morning [[dew]] was also thought to bring good luck and health. At dawn or before sunrise on Beltane, maidens would roll in the dew or wash their faces with it.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Baile an Churraigh {{!}} The Schools' Collection|url=https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4591100/4591003|access-date=25 December 2021|website=dúchas.ie|language=en}}</ref> The dew was collected in a jar, left in sunlight, then filtered. The dew was thought to increase sexual attractiveness, maintain youthfulness, protect from sun damage (particularly freckles and sunburn) and help with skin ailments for the ensuing year.<ref name=koch/><ref name="Danaher" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web|title=Baile an Daingin (C.) {{!}} The Schools' Collection|url=https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4427840/4349344|access-date=12 February 2022|website=dúchas.ie|language=en}}</ref> It was also thought that a man who washed his face with soap and water on Beltane will grow long whiskers on his face.<ref name=":1" />

It was widely believed that no one should light a fire on May Day morning until they saw smoke rising from a neighbour's house.<ref name=":2" /> It was also believed to be bad luck to put out ashes or clothes on May Day, and to give away coal or ashes would cause the giver difficulty in lighting fires for the next year.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=Druim an t-Seagail {{!}} The Schools' Collection|url=https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4602710/4597559|access-date=12 February 2022|website=dúchas.ie|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":5" /> Also, if the family owned a white horse, it should remain in the barn all day, and if any other horse was owned, a red rag should be tied to its tail.<ref name=":1" /> Any foal born on May Day was fated to kill a man, and any cow that calved on May Day would die.<ref name=":3" /> Any birth or marriage on May Day was generally believed to be ill-fated.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|title=Baile an Daingin (C.) {{!}} The Schools' Collection|url=https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4427840/4349343|access-date=12 February 2022|website=dúchas.ie|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web|title=Festivals of the Year – May Day|url=https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5044699/5032924/5146080|access-date=12 February 2022|website=dúchas.ie|language=en}}</ref> On May Night a cake and a jug were left on the table, because it was believed that the Irish who had died abroad would return on May Day to their ancestral homes, and it was also believed that the dead returned on May Day to visit their friends.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":6" /> A [[European robin|robin]] that flew into the house on Beltane was believed to portend the death of a household member.<ref name=":7" />

The festival persisted widely up until the 1950s, and in some places the celebration of Beltane continues today.<ref name=mackillop/><ref name="McNeill2" /><ref name="Campbell" />