supposed to be carried off by the fairies, who are then always on the watch
to abduct whatever is young and beautiful for their fairy homes.
Sometimes on the 1st of May, a sacred heifer, snow white, appeared
amongst the cattle; and this was considered to bring the highest good luck
to the farmer. An old Irish song that alludes to the heifer, may be translated
thus—
"There is a cow on the mountain,
A fair white cow
She goes East and she goes West,
And my senses have gone for love of her
She goes with the sun and he forgets to burn,
And the moon turns her face with love to her,
My fair white cow of the mountain."The fairies are in the best of humours upon May Eve, and the music of
the fairy pipes may be heard all through the night, while the fairy folk are
dancing upon the rath. It is then they carry off the young people to join their
revels; and if a girl has once danced to the fairy music, she will move ever
after with such fascinating grace, that it has passed into a proverb to say of a
good dancer, "She has danced to fairy music on the hill."
At the great long dance held in old times on May Day, all the people
held hands and danced round a great May-bush erected on a mound. The
circle sometimes extended for a mile, the girls wearing garlands, and the
young men carrying wands of green boughs, while the elder people sat
round on the grass as spectators, and applauded the ceremony. The tallest
and strongest young men in the county stood in the centre and directed the
movements, while the pipers and harpers, wearing green and gold sashes,
played the most spirited dance tunes.
The oldest. worship of the world was of the sun and moon, of trees,
wells, and the serpent that gave wisdom. Trees were the symbol of
knowledge, and the dance round the May-bush is part of the ancient ophite
ritual. The Baila also, or waltz, is associated with Baal worship, where the
two circling motions are combined; the revolution of the planet on its own
axis, and also round the Sun.
In Italy, this ancient festival, called Calendi Maggio, is celebrated in the
rural districts much in the Irish way. Dante fell in love at the great May Day
festival, held in the Portinari Palace. The Sclavonic nations likewise light
sacred fires, and dance round a tree hung with garlands on May Day. This
reverence for the tree is one of the oldest superstitions of humanity and the
most universal, and the fires are a relic of the old pagan worship paid to the
Grynian Apollo--fire above all things being held sacred by the Irish as a
safeguard from evil spirits. It is a saying amongst them, "Fire and salt are
the two most sacred things given to man, and if you give them away on