In modern Irish, Bealtaine refers to May. It is both the Irish name for the month and the name of the Gaelic May Day festival traditionally held on 1 May.
The word is especially notable because several Irish month names preserve older seasonal or religious associations. Bealtaine belongs to the summer season in the Irish calendar, alongside Meitheamh for June and Iúil for July. The festival name Lá Bealtaine literally identifies May Day in Irish.
This can be confused with the Scottish Gaelic form Bealltainn, which refers to the same seasonal festival and month but is spelled differently. Bealtaine is not the Irish word for June: June is Meitheamh. Likewise, Samhain names November in Irish and is also the autumn festival that gave Halloween its cultural background.