Parilia

Happy Parilia (or Palilia) - This Roman festival, held on 21st April, cleansed shepherds & sheep, honouring the god of shepherds & sheep, Pales. A bonfire was built, with the shepherd and sheep jumping through the flames to be cleansed. The painting by Joseph-Benoît Suvée reimagines the festival

I find it interesting that the Romans didn't know who or what Pales was...But, considering that Ovid says that Parilia predates the founding of Rome, Pales and related rituals are of Pre Roman and most likely of Non Roman origin...

I don't know who or what Pales was either. But I would like here to add few bits of information that might help someone, some day, solve this mystery 🙂 First let's have a look at the Parilia ceremony:

"...After the sheep pen had been decorated with green branches and a wreath draped on the gate, the remainder of the ceremony took place in this sequence..."

"...At the first sign of daylight, the shepherd would purify the sheep: by sweeping the pen and then constructing a bonfire...the shepherd would jump through this flame, dragging his sheep along with him...Offerings of bread and milk were then presented to Pales..."

"...After these offerings, the shepherd would wet his hands with dew, face the east, and repeat a prayer four times...requesting Pales’s protection of the shepherd and the flock..."

"...The final portion of the rural festival made use of the beverage burranica, a combination of milk and sapa (boiled wine). After consumption of this beverage, the shepherd would leap through the fire three times, bringing an end to the ceremony..."

So...21st of April is very close to the 1st of May...Which was in some parts of the world known as Beltane (Bealtaine)...The day that marked the beginning of the Celtic summer (May-Oct), half of the year dominated by the sun...

On Beltane, in Scotland, they purified the sheep and cattle by walking them between two fires derived from single ritually kindled fire...I talked about this in my post "Beltane purification ceremony"...

And they did the same thing in Ireland on the same day...I talked about this in my post "The City"...

21st of April is very close to the 23rd of April, St George's day...And in the past in the Balkans, at the dawn of the St George's day, two fires were lit between which people and domestic animals (sheep and cattle) walked "for protection from diseases and snakes"...

St George being Christianised old Slavic sun god Jarilo (The Brightly Burning one), and snake being the solar animal which follows sun everywhere, it is obvious why people performed snake protection rituals on the day of the sun...

But there is something really interesting about when we celebrate St George and St Michael...The dragon killers...They mark the beginning and the end of the "Old Summer", the domain of the sun, the domain of the dragon...I talked about that in my post "Dragon always gets killed"...

BTW, in the old Serbian calendar, solar year is also divided into summer and autumn...Where summer starts with summer St Georges day, and winter starts with Winter St Georges day...

Summer George icon. 

Winter George icon.

So the fire purification on the day (around) the beginning of the summer...The season ruled by the Jarilo, the "Brightly Burning One"...The one who "pali" (lights up fires)...

It is interesting that in the past, in the Balkans, on the morning of St George's day kids were woken up by being swished with nettles, "to be healthy"...

Nettle sting feels like burning, and the expression in Serbian for being stung by nettles is "ožariti se" (to be burned)...

In the past, in Skopska Crna Gora region of Macedonia, women swept their houses with nettles early in the morning on St George's day, "to sweep all bad things out of the house, because everything runs away from nettles"...From: Ѓурѓовденски обичаи (1956) which sadly isn't available on Youtube any more...

There is an expression in Serbian "on žari i pali" which means "he burns and lights up fires"...Jarilo, Žarilo, Palilo...The Burning Sun of summer...

Shepherd kids making flower wreaths in the spring, most likely for Djurdjevdan (St George's day)...

From the description of the Parilia ritual:

"...After the sheep pen had been decorated with green branches and a wreath draped on the gate..."

In Serbia, on the St George's day people put wild flower and medicinal herbs wreaths on house gates for good luck and health...

I talked about St George (Jarilo) as the sheep and shepherds god in my posts "April" and "Aries must die"...

From the description of the Parilia ritual: "...Offerings of bread and milk were then presented to Pales..."

St George's day rituals involving bread and milk from Serbia: 

This is "kravaj" (pronounced kravay), a ritual bread made in Serbia. It was in the past used during "premlaz", the ritual first milking of the year which is always done the day before St George's day and which marks the beginning of the milking season...I talked about this in my post "Aries must die"...

From the description of the Parilia ritual: "...After these offerings, the shepherd would wet his hands with dew, face the east...pray..."

Just in case you wondered who the shepherd was praying to facing east at dawn...The sun...god..who "pali" (burns)...

Oh, and why would he "wet his hands with dew" before praying?

Well in places where people believed in purification by fire at the beginning of summer, they also believed in purification by dew at the beginning of summer...

This is one custom that I only read about before. On the morning of St George's day, girls would go to fields to wash their faces in dew, so that they are beautiful all year round. Recorded in Skopska Crna Gora region of Macedonia. From: Ѓурѓовденски обичаи (1956) which sadly isn't available on Youtube any more...

But this ritual was widespread among Serbs too, where dew bathing was done on the so called "herb Friday", the last Friday before St George's day. And the Irish did it too, on Beltane morning...Just another indication what St George's day is...I talked about this in my post "Morning dew"...

Interestingly, the same ritual is performed in Latvia on Jāņi day (summer solstice). Girls wash their faces with the morning dew, so their face will always be white and beautiful"...Great example how ritual dates change because of climate...I talked about this in my post "Jani"...

And that's it from me for today...After all this, I still don't know who Pales was...But I could guess...🙂 Especially after I recently found out that one of the names of the Mesopotamian god of death, Nergal, the personification of the destructive, burning sun of the late summer, was "Palil"...I talked about this in my post "Palil"...

To read more about ancient animal and plant calendar markers, start here…then check the rest of the blog posts related to animal calendar markers I still didn't add to this page, and finally check my twitter threads I still didn't convert to blog post...I am 9 months behind now...

Djurdjevak

Lily of the valley is (to me) one of the most beautiful wild flowers. It is a woodland plant which has sweetly scented, pendent, bell-shaped white flowers which appear in our forests at the end of April Beginning of May..

In Serbia this plant is called Djurdjevak (St George's plant). It is ritually picked on the morning of Djurdjevdan (St George's day) and used for decorating people and houses "So that people, crops and livestock are healthy, fertile and prosperous"...

In Serbia, St George is Christianised Jarilo, old Slavic young sun god. Jarilo goes to the world of the dead at the end of every autumn and comes back to our world at the beginning of every spring to bring life to the earth (makes it green)...

In Serbian folk calendar, like in Gaelic folk calendar, year is divided into two parts: dark part and light part. In Serbia the two parts of the solar year are delimited by two St George's days: Djurdjevdan (start of summer) and Djurdjic (start of winter). I talked about this in my post "Two Georges"... 

The summer St George's day, Djrudjevdan, May Day celebrates the beginning of the year dominated by sun, Jarilo, which is why Jarilo's flowers, Lily of the valley, is used for decorating people's houses...

Jarilo, the young sun god, is also the shepherd god. The two St George's days mark the beginning and end of the flock grazing season. May Day, Jarilo's day, Djurdjevdan is in Serbia also the main Shepherds day...I talked about this in my post "Aries must die"...

There is another Sun-Shepherd god just like Jarilo. Apollo. And interestingly, lily of the valley is in Greek Mythology linked with Apollo. According to Greek legend, Lily of the Valley was given by Apollo, the Sun God, to Aesculapius, the great healer...

So Apollo, who is said to have discovered lily of the valley, Greek Sun-Shepherd god give Djurdjevak (Jarilo's flower) the flower of Slavic Sun-Shepherd god to the God of heeling. This is because this plant is extremely potent medicinal herb...

Jarilo's plant has extremely beneficial influence on the heart (the seat of fire in human body) and blood vessels. The ointments made from this plant are used for treating burns...So the plant of Jarilo (brightly burning one) is used to treat fire caused problems in the body...

In an old Sussex legend, St. Leonard fought and killed the last dragon in England in the woods near Horsham. During the fight, St Leonard received grievous wounds, but wherever his blood fell, Lilies of the valley sprang. This area of the forest is still called The Lily Beds...

After the fight St Leonard "requested that snakes be banished"...This is very interesting because Jarilo, whose flower is Lily of the valley, is The Dragon, The Great Snake. He is the symbol of sun, sun's heat. After Christianisation he became St George, the Dragon killer...

St George's day, Jarilo's day marks the beginning of summer. This marks the point when sun's heat turns from beneficial, life bringing spring heat, to destructive, life destroying summer heat...Which is symbolised by the dragon...

I love that in Christianity, Lily of the valley symbolises "Christ's second coming", Christ's return to our world from "heaven". Every spring, Jarilo, whose flower Lily of the valley is, returns to our world from "Slavic heaven, Irij" to bring back life to nature...

Two Georges

In Gaelic calendar, year was divided into two parts: the light (hot) part, which started on Bealtaine (1st of May) and ended on Samhain (31st of October), and the dark (cold) part, which started on Samhain (31st of October), and ended on Bealtaine (1st of May)

Interestingly, the same division of the year exists in Serbian calendar, where the light (hot) part starts on St George's day and ends on St Mitar's day and the dark (cold) part starts on St Mitar's day and ends on St George's day...I talked about this in my post "Two Crosses".

St George's day is celebrated on the 23rd of April, just few days before the beginning of summer (6th of May, mid point between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice)...This day is said to commemorate the day of execution of St George. Icons made for this day depict St George on a horse with a spear killing the Dragon...

In Serbia, there is another St George's day which is celebrated on the 3rd of November. Just before the beginning of winter (5th of November, mid point between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice). This day is said to commemorate the consecration of the church in Lydda, built by Constantine the Great, which housed the relics of the Saint George...Icons made for this day depict St George standing with a spear...

It is interesting that these two St George's days mark the beginning and the end of the white (hot) part of the year dominated by the sun...When we know that St George is Christianised Jarilo, Slavic sun god...

In Slavic mythology snake is the symbol of the sun, sun's heat. Snakes come to the surface during white, hot part of the year. During the summer, the hottest part of the year, sun's heat becomes destructive. This is burning sun is symbolically represented as a dragon breathing fire. 

As I said I always found it very funny that the Sun God Jarilo, whose name means Brightly Burning, Raging one, Who is the Dragon, was replaced by St George, Dragon killer. And that St George kills the Dragon on the day which is in Gaelic calendar known as Bealtaine (The day of the brightly burning fire). The day when people light up bonfires to mark the beginning of Summer, the hottest part of the year. The day when sun snake turns into a sun Dragon. 

St George also kills himself (Jarilo, Dragon) on the day when he was apparently executed according to Christian cannon...

All very strange and coincidental...

In the past in Serbia, the St George's day marking the beginning of summer, was the day by which the flocks were brought up to the highland pastures. And the St George's day, marking the beginning of winter, was the day by which the flocks were brought down from the highland pastures...

Which is why St George is the patron saint of shepherds...I talked about many interesting Serbian rituals related to sheep performed on the St George's day marking the beginning of summer in my post "Aries must die".

By the way, there is another Sun god which is also a Shepherd god...

Apollo...

Apollo who is Greek Jarilo...

Just in case people still wonder whether Apollo was originally Shepherd God who acquired attributes of a Sun god. It was probably the opposite... 

Morning dew

Irish riddle

Q: I wash my face in water that has never rained nor run, and dry it in a towel that was never wove on spun

A: A face washed in May dew and dried in the open air. 

This ritual performed on the May Day (1st of May, Beltane) morning was believed to bring beauty and health.

In Serbia in the past the dew bathing was done on the so called "herb Friday", the last Friday before St George's day. Older women lead younger women and girls out of their villages and towns and into wild, uncultivated meadows and fields, their voices collectively ringing out in song. They went there to wash themselves in morning dew. This they did by literally rolling about in the morning dew, as well as dabbing some dew on their faces. This was considered to be an extremely important magical ritual, one that brought beaty and health. It also helped ensure that women of child-bearing age will conceive without difficulty and have safe, uncomplicated births. 

As I already wrote in my post "Beltany stone circle" there is an indication that originally Beltane was celebrated on the 6th of May, the mid point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, the true beginning of summer. This is the day when people in Serbia still celebrate St George's day. Many customs and rituals which are in Ireland associated with Beltane, like this one, are in Serbia associated with St George's day. 

Beltany Stone Circle

Happy Beltane the 6th of May!

I know what you will say.

"You are 5 days late, mate. Beltane is celebrated on the 1st of May, and today is the 6th of May."

And you are right. Beltane is today celebrated and was in the historical times celebrated on the 1st of May and sometimes even on the 30th of April. But I believe that this is a relatively recent development. I believe that Beltane was originally celebrated on the 6th of May.

If we read what Wikipedia has to say about Beltane we read that: "Beltane or Beltain is the Gaelic May Day festival. Most commonly it is held on 1 May, or about halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice." And the day which is half way between the spring equinox and the summer solstice is the 6th of May. Do I have any proof that Beltane was originally celebrated on the 6th of May? Actually I believe I do.

In both Serbian and Celtic calendar the year was divided into two parts, the dark, black part (winter and spring) and white part (summer and autumn). Beltane (Djurdjevdan, St Georges day) and Samhain (Mitrovdan, St Martin's day) marked the borders between these two parts of the year. Beltane is the day of Bel, Beli, Belenos, Belbog, the white god, the bringer of light and warmth. Beltane is the beginning of the white, bright, hot part of the year. Samhain is the day of Bran, Vran, Chernunos, Černbog, Crnbog, the Black god, the bringer of darkness and cold. Samhain is the beginning of the black, dark, cold part of the year.

In Slavic languages "bel", "beli", "beo" means white, "čern", "črn", "crn", "v(b)ran" means black,  "bog" means god.

Belbog = bel + bog = white + god, the god of the white part of the year.
Belenos = belen + os = white, light, the god of the white part of the year.
Beli = white, light

Slavic sun god Svetovid = Svet + vid = Light + sight was also called Beli Vid = White + sight. His name literally means bringer of light and sight. In Slavic languages the word "svet" can mean both the world, the visible world and light which makes the world visible...

In the comments in the translation of the annals of the four masters by Owen Connellan we reed that in Ireland the sun was worshiped under the names of Bel, Beal, and Baal. .According to 17th century historian Geoffrey Keating, there was a great gathering at the hill of Uisneach each Beltane in medieval Ireland, where a sacrifice was made to a god named Beil.

Černbog = čern + bog = black + god, the god of the black part of the year.
Chernunos = černun + os = black, dark, the god of the black part of the year.
Bran = black, darkness

Belbog - Črnbog, Bel - Bran, Vran, Belenos - Chernunos are two faces of Janus, two halves of the solar year, the white and dark part of the year from the Celtic and Serbian calendar.

Beltane is the first day of the white part of the year, the part of the year which belongs to Belbog, Belenos, Beli, Summer Sun. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man....The name for Beltane in Irish it is Bealtaine, in Scottish Gaelic Bealltainn and in Manx Gaelic Boaltinn or Boaldyn.

In Irish the word "tine" means fire. In Serbian word "tinja" is a verb meaning "to smolder, start, kindle fire". The word "bel" means white. Beltine means white fire but also smoldering kindling, starting of the sun's fire, the beginning of summer, of the white, bright, hot part of the year. This is why bonfires are lit for Beltine, to help the sun to rekindle. To start the white, bright, hot part of the year...

Keating wrote that two bonfires would be lit in every district of Ireland, and cattle would be driven between them to protect them from disease. This is the so called "need fire" ceremony which was also practiced among the Germanic and Slavic people. Medieval Dindsenchas includes a tale of a hero lighting a holy fire on Uisneach that blazed for seven years. Excavations at Uisneach in the 20th century found evidence of large fires and charred bones, showing it to have been ritually significant.Interestingly,

As I said already, in Irish literature Beltaine has been primarily associated with Hill of Uisneach, the mythological centre or naval of Ireland, where there is known to be a prehistoric ceremonial enclosure. Medieval Dindsenchas includes a tale of a hero lighting a holy fire on Uisneach that blazed for seven years (or six years in another version). The thing is that neither version of Dindsenchas actually says that the fires were lit on the hill of Uisneach.

The version found on the UCC site says:

Mide it was, the ardent son of Brath
the host-leading son of Deaith;
for he kindled a mystic fire
above the race of Nemed, seizer of hostages.
Seven years good ablaze
was the fire, it was a sure truce:
so that he shed the fierceness of the fire for a time
over the four quarters of Erin.
So that it is in return for this fire in truth
(it is not a rash saying, it is not a falsehood)
that he (Mide and his descendants) has a right by a perpetual bargain
over every chief hearth of Erin.

And they said (no small grief it was),
the druids of Erin all together,
"It is an ill smoke was brought to us eastward:
it has brought an ill mood to our mind."
Then Mide the untiring assembled
the druids of Erin into one house,
and cut their tongues (a harsh presage)
out of the heads of the strong and noble druids.
And he buried them under the earth
of Uisnech in mighty Mide,
and sat him down over their tongues,
he, the chief seer and his chief shanachie.

The version found on UCD site says:

Mide son of Brath, son of Deoth, was the first to light a fire
in Erin for the clans of Nemed, and it was six years a-blaze,
and from that fire was kindled every chief fire in Erin. Wherefore
Mide’s successor is entitled to a sack (of corn) with a
pig from every house-top in Ireland. And the wizards of Ireland
said: ‘’Tis an evil smoke (mí-dé) for us, this fire that
hath been lit in the land’. So the wizards of Ireland were collected
into one house, and, by Mide’s advice, their tongues
were cut out of their heads, and he buried them in the ground
of Uisnech, and Mide, chief wizard and chief historian of Ireland,
sat above them.

Neither of the two stories actually states that the fires were lit on the hill of Uisnech. But the excavations at Uisneach in the 20th century found evidence of large fires and charred bones, showing it to have been ritually significant and the fires were regularly lit on this hill. So there is a possibility that Uisnech is the place where Beltane could have been celebrated in the past, but the evidence is circumstantial.

But there is another Irish ceremonial site which is also associated with Beltaine. And for this place there is no doubt that it was a ritual place directly linked with the celebration of Beltane. This is  is the great stone circle at Beltany, Co. Donegal. The name Beltany is an anglicised version of the Irish Beltaine, Beltane. The stone circle dates from around 1400-800 BC. Some reports are even saying that the actual building date is 2000 BC. The complex comprises a stone circle of 64 stones around a low earth platform or tumulus, situated at the summit of Beltany Hill.

In "Instances of Orientation in Prehistoric Monuments of the British Isles" published in 1923 we can find this detailed information concerning the Beltany circle and particularly its astronomical alignments:

This is the plan of the great Circle crowning Beltany Hill, 1½ miles due south from the small but ancient town of Raphoe, county Donegal, in Ireland.

The somewhat rounded summit of the hill is made up (artificially) into a flat circular space, 145 ft. in diameter. The platform thus constructed is edged and defined by a circle of megaliths, of which sixty-four remain out of, possibly, an original number of eighty. The greater number are about 4 ft. high, as measured down their outer sides to the natural ground-level; while on the inner side, the tops of the stones are about level with the platform surface in the south-western part of the Circle, but stand up 1 ft. or 2 ft. clear of the platform elsewhere. There are, however, at certain points of the Circle, marked exceptions to this general height of the stones. The most noticeable of these is to the WSW., where there is a great slab, 2 ft. to 3 ft. in thickness, standing 9 ft. high, and about 8 ft. in width, in conjunction with a second considerable megalith, 6 ft. high.

Standing with one’s back to the greater of these two (which is by far the greatest stone in the Circle), and looking across the diameter on which it stands, to the ENE., one sees a large and prominent stone of the Circle, triangular in shape, with its sharp apex 4 ft. 6 in. above the Circle platform. Besides its conspicuous shape, this stone is individualized by having its whole inner surface (that facing the observer) covered with cup-markings. 

Continuing the line of the diameter on which it stands, there is seen beyond it against the sky, at a distance of about four hundred yards, a small but conspicuous hill-summit. This is now the site of an old windmill tower; but probably had in ancient times some sufficient indication of its purpose as a point of sight—a cairn, perhaps, or a pillar stone. The azimuth of this line, in any case, is precisely that of sunrise on Bealltaine (6th May); and it is important to note that the present name, ‘Beltany Hill’, gives the almost exact pronunciation of the Gaelic name of this ‘May Day’ celebration. This seems a very convincing proof of the connexion of the Circle with the date found by orientation.

Another orientation discoverable in this Circle is as follows. In the northwestern part of its perimeter there is another stone conspicuously greater and higher than its neighbours, though not so great as the Bealltaine-observing stone just described. It is 5 ft. 10 in. high, and about 8 ft. in width. Looking across the diameter on which it stands, the eye passes over a stone at the other {213} {Fig. 11} end (close, to which there is growing an ancient thorn-tree) to an outlying slab, or pillar stone, 6 ft. 3 in. high, which is ‘planted’ in the ground with its longer {214} sides parallel to the line of sight, at a distance of 67 ft. outside the boundary of the Circle. Beyond this pillar-stone, on the same line, there is a hill-summit seen against the sky, at some little distance. The azimuth of this line is (exactly) that of sunrise on the day of the Winter Solstice.

There is also an orientation across the centre of Beltany Circle to a conspicuous hill-summit named Croaghan, 3½ miles distant, crowned with an ancient earthwork, clearly seen against the sky. This line is that of sunrise at Samhuin (’All Hallows’), marking the November ‘half-quarter-day’; at six months’ distance in time, therefore, from that of Bealltaine, in May. It is unfortunate that the stones at both ends of the diameter of the Circle on this line have disappeared. The orientation should not, however, for that reason be rejected. It is not only inherently probable, but is exact in azimuth.

Yet another orientation is found in this interesting, and no doubt important, Circle by looking across a diameter from the westward over a great slab 7 ft. 3 in. high, flanked on either side by tall pillars, each about 6 ft. high, standing on the eastern edge—the three stones standing out conspicuously among their lesser neighbours. This line directs to the sharp summit of Argery Hill, two miles distant, and marks sunrise on the day of the Equinoxes (21st March and 21st September).

As we can see the Beltany stone circle is aligned to the sunrise of the beginning of the white part of the year and the sunset of the end of the white part of the year. I believe that this is deliberate. The daylight, the white part of the day starts with sunrise and ends with sunset. I believe that the builders of the Beltany stone circle deliberately mapped the beginning of the white part of the year to the sunrise at Beltane and the end of the white part of the year to the sunset at Samhain. 

But interestingly the builders of the Beltany stone circle didn't take 1st of May as the beginning of the white part of the year. Instead they took the 6th of May, the day which lies exactly at the mid point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, which is the real Beltane day. The author of the "Instances of Orientation in Prehistoric Monuments of the British Isles", Rear-Admiral Boyle Somerville, a man who certainly new his azimut calculation and orientaton by the sun, clearly states that the alignment with the sunrise on the 6th of May which he calls the day of Beltane. This real Beltane day is still celebrated in Serbia as Djurdjevdan, the day of St George, the day of Jarilo, Jurjevo, the day when the young, sun becomes a young man, the fertile sun, the sun burning with life giving fire and warmth, the sun beaming with life force, the day which marks the beginning of the white part of the year.

The builders of the Beltany stone circle also marked the sunrise at Winter solstice, which means that they were able to use Lunisolar calendar as I already explained in my post about Calendars. The winter solstice is the day one of the solar cycle. If we know how to determine the winter solstice day, we know how to re calibrate the lunar year to coincide with the solar year and so avoid the calendar slipping. The Builders of the Beltany stone circle also marked the sunrise of the day of the spring and autumn equinox. This is the same point, right between the points marking the points of the summer and winter solstice, the true East, the direction of the house of Sun god. This point can only be marked if you have already marked the points of both summer and winter solstice. All of this is pointing to Beltany circle as being a sophisticated solar observatory.

However, all this said, I heard recent reports that this triangular pokemarked stone is aligned with the sunrise on the 1st of May. This is a bit confusing considering that the solar orientation of stone monuments does not change in time. Also people who were able to construct such a complex solar observatory, who were able to determine and mark the exact points of the winter and summer solstice and the equinoxes were certainly able to precisely determine and mark the exact day of Beltane. But maybe the day of Beltane was at that time already moved from the 6th of May to the 1st of may. The stone circle is aligned with the Samhain day, which is according to the Wikipedia "It is celebrated from sunset on 31 October to sunset on 1 November, or about halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. " The real Samhain is the 5th of November. The author of the "Instances of Orientation in Prehistoric Monuments of the British Isles" says that the Samhain point marks the "November ‘half-quarter-day’; at six months’ distance in time, therefore, from that of Bealltaine, in May." This then has to be the the 5th of November if the Beltane point is the point marking the 6th of May. But if the Samhain point is marking the 1st of November then the exact 6 month distant point is indeed the point marking the 1st of May. So I would really appreciate if anyone can confirm the following:

1. Which one of the above two reports about the Beltane point orientation is correct? Is Beltany circle aligned with the sunrise on the 1st or 6th of May?
2. Is the Beltany circle aligned with the sunset on the 31 of October or 5th of November?
3. Is the Beltany circle aligned with the sunrise on the 1st or 2nd of August, the Crom Dubh day? 

This would greatly enhance our understanding of the development of the Beltane, Samhain calendar. 

As I said the Beltany stone circle was a complex solar observatory. But as I already talked about in my post "Bogovo gumno - god's threshing floor" the solar observatories were also solar temples. This is why I believe that the Beltany circle was also not just an observatory but a temple dedicated to the Sun. The sun is also known in Serbia as Višnji bog (the high god), Vid, Bel bod (the white god). In Serbian tradition, Sun, the "Višnji Bog", the High God, is perceived as a living being, which is born every year in the winter on New Year's day, winter solstice. He then grows into a young man Jarilo on the 6th of May the day of the strongest vegetative, reproductive power of the sun. This day marks the beginning of the heating of the world, the beginning of summer. Then he becomes the powerful ruler Vid at the summer solstice, 21st of June the longest day of the year. He then becomes the terrible warrior Perun on the 2nd of August the hottest day of the year. This day marks the beginning of autumn, the beginning of the cooling of the world but also the beginning of the harvest which ends with Samhain, the day of gathering, the fair.

Summer solstice, the day of Svetovid, Vishnji bog is exactly in the middle of the summer period marked by the day of Jarilo and the day of Perun. Jarilo (heat, fire), Svetovid (light, sun) and Perun (lightning, electricity, energy) are together forming Triglav, Dabog, Hromi Daba, Perun the main god of the Serbs which is in Ireland known as Triglav, Dagda, Crom Dubh, Lugh. This is the Thundering Burning Sun Ilios, Grom Div, the Three in one, Trinity, Trimurti, Agni. He is the sun at its most powerful and terrifying, the sun that contains the cumulative power of the whole summer. As the day of Vid is right in the middle of the summer, the Crom Dubh day is right in the middle of the white part of the year of the vegetative part of the year. But it all starts with Jarilo, young sun, whose day, Beltane is today.

And so, again, Happy Beltane, the day of Bel, Beli, Belenos, Belbog, the god of the white part of the year. Happy first day of the summer. Happy Djurdjevdan. Happy Jurjevo, the day of Jarilo.