‘S e Là Buidhe Bealltainn a th’ againn an-diùgh, seann fhèill Cheilteach a bhiodh a’ comharrachadh toiseach an t-samhraidh.

Tha mòran lusan buidhe ann aig an àm seo, nam measg an conasg, am beàrnan-Brìde, a’ bhuidheag an t-samhraidh – agus lus buidhe Bealltainn fhèin.

‘S e dath ceangailte ri soirbheachadh, ri beannachdan a th’ ann am ‘buidhe’.

Bidh sinn ag ràdh ‘Nach buidhe dhut!’ latha an-diùgh fhathast -coltach ri ‘Aren’t you lucky!’.

Seo artaigil beag inntinneach mu lus buidhe Bealltainn:

http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1rzpj/TheNatureofScotlandi/resources/22.htm

It’s Beltane, May Day, today, the old Celtic festival which marked the beginning of summer .

There are many yellow plants at this time, among them whin, dandelion, buttercup – and the marsh marigold, called in Gaelic ‘the yellow Beltane plant’.

Yellow is a colour traditionally connected to prosperity, blessings. Even today we say ‘Nach buidhe dhut!’ – something like  ‘Hasn’t a lot of yellow come your way!’ to convey the English expression ‘Aren’t you lucky!’.

(The Gaels traditionally thought more in terms of fate/predestination and blessings or ill-wishes from above than of random ‘luck’, without a religious context,  in the modern sense.)

Here’s an interesting little article on the ‘lus buidhe Bealltainn’, in Gaelic and English.

http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1rzpj/TheNatureofScotlandi/resources/22.htm