Welsh May Day customs
As a child, On May Day I picked dandelions and any other wild flour I could find. I'd tie them into a bouquet and give them to my mom. I always wanted a Maypole but I can dance without one. Just ask my kidcats. Maybe I'll dance around my air conditioned Maple Tree.
Wales has a wealth of May Day customs, superstitions and traditions that go back to the time of the Druids.
Known as Calan Mai or Calan Haf, the first day of May was an important time for celebration and festivities in Wales as it was considered to be the start of summer. Marking neither an equinox nor a solstice, May Day referred to the point in the year when herds would be turned out to pasture.
The lighting of fires were very much associated with the first of May. In Druidical days, fires for the Baltan, known also as Beltane, represented an opportunity for purification, to protect animals from disease. These fire-lighting ceremonies were carried out with a great deal of pomp and ceremony.
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'Spirit nights', or ysprydnos, took place on May Eve. It was one of the three nights in the year when the world of the supernatural was closest to the the real world. These nights offered an opportunity for divination, usually with the express intent of revealing who one's true love would be.
Also on May Eve, villagers would gather hawthorn branches and flowers and use these to decorate the outside of their houses. It was believed to be unlucky to bring hawthorn blossoms into the house. In some parts of Wales mayflower (probably the cowslip) was collected. These customs celebrated the new growth and fertility of the season.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/entries/2bf9a235-94cb-301c-ac8c-011f6213715d
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