Talk:Beltane

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Beltane article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: 1: 90 days

This article is rated B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Holidays High‑importance

	Holidays portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Holidays, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of holidays on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.HolidaysWikipedia:WikiProject HolidaysTemplate:WikiProject HolidaysHolidays articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Celts High‑importance

	Beltane is within the scope of WikiProject Celts, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of the ancient Celts and the modern day Celtic nations. If you would like to participate, you can edit this article or you can visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks or take part in the discussion. Please Join, Create, and Assess.CeltsWikipedia:WikiProject CeltsTemplate:WikiProject CeltsCelts articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Neopaganism High‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Neopaganism, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Neopaganism on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.NeopaganismWikipedia:WikiProject NeopaganismTemplate:WikiProject NeopaganismNeopaganism articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Ireland Mid‑importance

	Ireland portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Ireland, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Ireland on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.IrelandWikipedia:WikiProject IrelandTemplate:WikiProject IrelandIreland articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.
	An image is requested for this article as its inclusion will substantially increase the significance of the article. Please remove the `image-needed` parameter once the image is added.

Scotland Mid‑importance

	Scotland portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Scotland, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Scotland and Scotland-related topics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ScotlandWikipedia:WikiProject ScotlandTemplate:WikiProject ScotlandScotland articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Religion Low‑importance

	Religion portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Religion, a project to improve Wikipedia's articles on Religion-related subjects. Please participate by editing the article, and help us assess and improve articles to good and 1.0 standards, or visit the wikiproject page for more details.ReligionWikipedia:WikiProject ReligionTemplate:WikiProject ReligionReligion articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the On this day section on 33 dates. [show]

This article has previously been nominated to be moved. Please review the prior discussions if you are considering re-nomination.

Discussions:

RM, Beltane → Bealtaine, no consensus, 4 May 2021, (discussion)

tree

Running around the tree with ribbons or strokes of paper reminds me of the may-tree which some villages in the south of the netherlands(where i live) plant in the beginning of may. It is an unusual high (it's very high, 25 meters or something) tree with only some green leaves at the top and it has some ribbons in usually yellow and white hanging from it. It simbolises fertility, just like the beltane feast in Wicca. Thought you might like to know ;) -Gwynn

Etymology section==== Ribbon weaving dance a 19th Century innovation?

In his "Stations of the Sun" (Oxford), the British historian Ronald Hutton says the historical record in the British Isles does not support the ribbon-weaving dance as having any greater antiquity than the 1840's or so. People danced around maypoles for many centuries before that, just not doing the ribbon-weaving thing until well into the 19th century...

EarrachApr.17,2007

New folklore additions need context

@Bargode: you need to put locations and years on these recent additions. You are inserting them as if they are universal, with no era indicated. From what I can tell from the sourcing, all of them are from Co. Westmeath, and relatively late. Some of them may only be local customs. This needs to be indicated. If you can't add this context, they may need to be reverted, as it gives the false impression that late imports of customs to Ireland are possibly native customs. I corrected your conflation of the May Bush/Pole (which you wrote as "May Poll") with the European Maypole, but now you seem to be adding more content that again muddies the waters. Please fix these issues if you want this content included. - CorbieVreccan ^☊ ☼ 21:24, 13 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Consistency?

Dia dhaoibh, I was looking at this talk page, and I saw that there was a rejected proposal to move the page. I am not really fussed about the title of the page (Although I have always used Bealtaine), but I was thinking that we should at least try for consistency. In the very first line, it contradicts the title of the page and calls the festival Bealtaine, not Beltane. What spelling should be used in the page? If the Gaeilge spelling from the main body of the article is to be kept, I think that the discussion regarding moving the page be reopened.

Edited once for grammar.

Alpha2 5232 (talk) 08:07, 2 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I agree, I think the default title should be changed to Bealtaine, given that this is a celtic/irish festival and that the irish name has been around much longer than "Beltane".. Lievead (talk) 18:49, 4 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

English spelling of Beltane

Why, when the article is about Celtic festivals, which are named in various Gaelic languages, is the dominant (outsider) Anglo-Saxon culture’s spelling used as the title? Galliv (talk) 03:39, 6 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Excellent question - also raised in the section above. I'm going to be bold and move to the correct Gaelic spelling. Bastun^{Ėġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ!} 09:44, 23 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

And in doing the move, I see @CeltBrowne: had already done the same move in 2021, but for some reason the move back doesn't show in the logs? Odd. Bastun^{Ėġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ!} 09:47, 23 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I've reverted this move... as noted, this was previously rejected in an RM discussion. Main reason is that Beltane is the WP:COMMONNAME spelling in English reliable sources, which is what Wikpiedia goes with as a policy. — Amakuru (talk) 10:13, 23 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

It wasn't rejected, there was no consensus for the move, and it appears to be over whether MOS:TIES does or does not apply, but point taken, I missed the RM discussion linked above, and the original RM discussion itself, which seems to have had a massive eight participants. I may propose another RM at some point. Bastun^{Ėġáḍβáś₮ŭŃ!} 10:50, 23 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Because this is the English Wikipedia not the Gaelic Wikipedia, and we use the name most common in English, just like we do for articles on anything that has a different spelling or name in another language. MClay1 (talk) 11:37, 6 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Exactly, the irish version is not difficult to pronounce, I don't understand why there was a need for Americans to create a whole new word for it when Bealtaine is so much prettier anyway :( Lievead (talk) 18:45, 4 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Pronunciation

The listed pronunciation in IPA at the start of the article is not what I expected, so I looked at the two sources that are linked. Both of them have a completely different pronunciation. Why are there cites to dictionaries that completely refute the listed pronunciation? I think either the IPA listed should be changed to match the links, or if the IPA listed is "correct", then someone should add cites proving the correctness. Derekt75 (talk) 17:43, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

correct spelling of this festival is "Bealtaine" (pronounced "bee-yowl-tana") Lievead (talk) 18:46, 4 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]