In the Hebrides “the Beltane bannock is smaller than that made at St. Michael’s, but is made in the same way; it is no longer made in Uist, but Father Allan remembers seeing his grandmother make one about twenty-five years ago.  There was also a cheese made, generally on the first of May, which was kept to the next Beltane as a sort of charm against the bewitching of milk-produce.  The Beltane customs seem to have been the same as elsewhere.  Every fire was put out and a large one lit on the top of the hill, and the cattle driven round it sunwards (dessil), to keep off murrain all the year.  Each man would take home fire wherewith to kindle his own."[379]

[Beltane fires and cakes in Wales.]

In Wales also the custom of lighting Beltane fires at the beginning of May used to be observed, but the day on which they were kindled varied from the Eve of May Day to the third of May.  The flame was sometimes elicited by the friction of two pieces of oak, as appears from the following description.  “The fire was done in this way.  Nine men would turn their pockets inside out, and see that every piece of money and all metals were off their persons.  Then the men went into the nearest woods, and collected sticks of nine different kinds of trees.  These were carried to the spot where the fire had to be built.  There a circle was cut in the sod, and the sticks were set crosswise.  All around the circle the people stood and watched the proceedings.  One of the men would then take two bits of oak, and rub them together until a flame was kindled.  This was applied to the sticks, and soon a large fire was made.  Sometimes two fires were set up side by side.  These fires, whether one or two, were called coelcerth or bonfire.  Round cakes of oatmeal and brown meal were split in four, and placed in a small flour-bag, and everybody present had to pick out a portion.  The last bit in the bag fell to the lot of the bag-holder.  Each person who chanced to pick up a piece of brown-meal cake was compelled to leap three times over the flames, or to run thrice between the two fires, by which means the people thought they were sure of a plentiful harvest.  Shouts and screams of those who had to face the ordeal could be heard ever so far, and those who chanced to pick the oatmeal portions sang and danced and clapped their hands in approval, as the holders of the brown bits leaped three times over the flames, or ran three times between the two fires.  As a rule, no danger attended these curious celebrations, but occasionally somebody’s clothes caught fire, which was quickly put out.  The greatest fire of the year was the eve of May, or May first, second, or third.  The Midsummer Eve fire was more for the harvest.  Very often a fire was built on the eve of November.  The high ground near the Castle Ditches at Llantwit Major, in the Vale of Glamorgan, was a familiar spot for the Beltane on May third and on Midsummer Eve....  Sometimes the Beltane fire was lighted by the flames