Happy Beltane (or May Day as you may know it)! The verse above comes from an ancient summer-welcoming carol called Thugamar Fein An Samahradn Linn, one of the oldest known songs in the Irish language. When I first heard it performed by The Gloaming, I promised myself that one day I would find out what it meant and learn how to sing it.
The full English translation is below, but what especially strikes me is the refrain “We brought the Summer with us.” This winter and spring have been particularly isolating; all of us huddled around our screens, struggling to keep warm and close while strange things swirl around outside.
But our profound sheltering has given space for new things to emerge: dolphins and swans returning to Venice; lions taking naps on roads in South Africa; significant reductions in air pollution; heroic efforts by health-care workers, teachers, and parents; individuals and companies taking care of people in need; musicians and theater productions giving unprecedented access to performances; so many of us learning new technology in mere days so we can collaborate, play, and grieve together.
Beltane celebrations start on the eve of the feast, with the community extinguishing all fires. As the sun rises on Beltane, a great bonfire is lit and each person takes a part of it home to start their own fire that will last the whole year. As we slowly emerge from the winter of this pandemic, I hope we bring warmth, abundance, fruit, flowers, all things good and growing, plentiful and flowing. Bring love, fertility, community, feasting, art, and beauty. Let’s bring the Summer with us.
Click here to listen my rendition of this song. Shoutout to Brian Ó hAirt my Irish singing teacher.
May doll, maiden of Summer,
Up every hill and down every glen,
Beautiful girls, radiantly dressed,
We brought the Summer with us.
Summer, Summer, milk of the calves,
We brought the Summer with us.
Yellow Summer of the clear bright daisies,
We brought the Summer with us.
We brought it in from the leafy woods,
We brought the Summer with us.
From home to home to our own hearths
We brought the Summer with us.
Summer, Summer, milk of the calves,
We brought the Summer with us.
Yellow Summer of the clear bright daisies,
We brought the Summer with us.
The lark is singing and soaring in the sky,
Joy for the day and the flower on the tree.
The cuckoo and the lark are singing with pleasure,
We brought the Summer with us
Summer, Summer, milk of the calves,
We brought the Summer with us.
Yellow Summer of the clear bright daisies,
We brought the Summer with us.