What is the traditional date of Beltane?

The traditional date of Beltane is May 1. The festival is the Gaelic May Day celebration and is traditionally held on the first day of May, roughly halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice.

Beltane was one of four major Gaelic seasonal festivals, alongside Imbolc on February 1, Lughnasadh on August 1, and Samhain on November 1. In the older pastoral calendar, May marked the opening of the summer season, when livestock were moved to summer grazing grounds.

Some celebrations begin on the evening of April 30 and continue into May 1, which can make the festival appear to have a two-day date. This is also why Beltane is sometimes described as a cross-quarter observance rather than a solstice festival. It should not be confused with the June 21 summer solstice, which represents midsummer in many European traditions.

In the Southern Hemisphere, modern neopagan groups may observe Beltane around November 1 because the seasons are reversed.