Mearing Stones

Excerpt:
The May-Fire is still kindled in some parts of Donegal. It is a survival of a pagan rite of our forefathers.
€œAnd at it (the great national convention at Uisneach in Meath) they were wont to make a sacrifice to the arch-god, whom they adored, whose name was B©l. It was likewise their usage to light two fires to B©l in every district in Ireland at this season, and to drive a pair of each herd of cattle that the district contained between these two fires, as a preservative, to guard them against all the diseases of that year. It is from that fire thus made that the day on which the noble feast of the apostles Peter and James is held has been called Bealteine (in Scotch Beltane), i.e., B©l€s fire.€