Editing May Day (section)

=== Ireland ===
[[File:2022 Festival of Fires on Hill of Uisneach.jpg|thumb|''Bealtaine'' bonfire at [[Uisneach]] in Ireland, 2022]]
{{main|Beltane}}
In Ireland, May Day has long been celebrated as the festival of ''[[Bealtaine]]''. It marks the beginning of summer and historically was when cattle were [[Transhumance|driven out]] to the summer pastures. Rituals were performed to protect cattle, people and crops, and to encourage growth. Special bonfires were kindled, whose flames, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective powers. The people and their cattle would walk around or between bonfires, and sometimes leap over the flames or embers. All household fires would be doused and then re-lit from the Bealtaine bonfire. These gatherings would be accompanied by a feast, and some of the food and drink would be offered to the {{lang|ga|[[aos sí]]}}, the 'spirits' or 'fairies'. Doors, windows, byres and cattle would be decorated with yellow May flowers, perhaps because they evoked fire. In parts of Ireland, people would make a May Bush: typically a thorn bush or branch decorated with flowers, ribbons, bright shells and rushlights. [[Holy well]]s were also visited, while Bealtaine [[dew]] was thought to bring beauty and maintain youthfulness.

For almost two centuries, the Dublin suburb of [[Finglas]] was well known for its "May Games" and its maypole "was one of the last to survive in Dublin", according to historian Michael J. Tutty.{{sfn|Tutty|1973|page=70}}
Throughout the eighteenth century, the Finglas maypole was at the centre of a week of festivity which included "the playing of games, various competitions, and, according to one account the crowning of 'Queen of the May'."{{sfn|Tutty|1973|page=70}} In a letter written by [[Henry Charles Sirr (town major)|Major Sirr]] on 2 May 1803 (shortly after the turbulent [[1798 Rebellion]]), he writes:<blockquote>Godfrey and I went to Finglass and found everything in order. Major Wilkinson, who resides, there, waited upon me... and told me there was not the smallest occasion for military aid nor was there the least possibility of any disturbance... I ordered the guard to return to Dublin and these gentlemen and their families seemed quite rejoiced that the old custom of Maying was not to be interrupted in Finglass where that amusement has been kept up for a century past without ever being curbed before.{{sfn|Tutty|1973|page=70}}</blockquote>Public celebrations of Bealtaine fell out of popularity by the 20th century and many old traditions are no longer widely observed. The tradition of a May Bush was reported as being suppressed by law and the magistrates in [[Dublin]] in the 18th century.<ref>{{cite news|title= Dublin|newspaper= Hibernian Journal; or, Chronicle of Liberty|date= 1 May 1776|page= 5}}</ref> The tradition of lighting bonfires has survived in parts of the country,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/local/warning-issued-ahead-of-limerick-s-may-eve-bonfires-1-5044472 |title=Warning issued ahead of Limerick's May Eve bonfires |last=Hurley |first=David |date=30 April 2013 |publisher=Limerick Leader |url-access=subscription |access-date=1 May 2016}}</ref> and other traditions continue to be revived as local cultural events.