Bealtaine Shona!

"Sumer is icumen in..." sang a group of traditional Celts this morning when they went out in procession to a hill in the county which has been a place for Celtic celebrations since ancient times. There, in the centre on a prehistoric stone circle, they lit the traditional Bealtaine fire and performed the age-old rituals to welcome the Summer to this island.

At first there were worries about the weather, since we had a few hours of rain early in the morning. (And even weather-hardened traditional Celts find it more enjoyable to celebrate in sunshine than in rainy weather.)
But then, just before the procession was to start, the rain stopped, the clouds disappeared under a fresh morning breeze, and within the hour we were graced with lovely sunshine and a mild and pleasant day. (In the afternoon the temperature rose to 16 C, which is the highest temperature we had here so far this year.)

Last night the same group of Celts had gathered at another sacred ancient spot in the countryside for the traditional Bealtaine bonfire that is lit before midnight to ward off evil spirits and burns long into the new day, to show the incoming Summer the way to Ireland.

After this morning's celebrations people were going home to hang freshly cut May Boughs on the doors and windows of their houses and to erect the traditional May Bushes in their farmyards. The preferred trees for these decorations are caorthann (rowan or mountain ash) and sceach geal (hawthorn or whitethorn).

In the traditional Celtic calendar Bealtaine, celebrated on the first day of May, marks the official begin of Summer. In ancient times there were many hundreds of bonfires lit on this day - and in the night before - all over Ireland, predominantly on prominent hills and sites of special spiritual importance. The main Bealtaine fire was always lit on the central hill of Uisneach, 'the navel of Ireland', one of the most sacred ritual centres, situated in the Royal Province of Meath (now Co. Westmeath).

But the tradition of celebrating Bealtaine goes back much further than the Celtic settlement of Ireland between 300 and 200 BCE. It marked the beginning of Summer already for the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians, the ancient people of Ireland who populated and ruled this island for thousands of years.
When the Celts arrived, their superior weaponry (in contrast to the ancient people the Celts had the knowledge of iron and used mostly iron swords and spears) made them soon the dominating power and the masters of Ireland. But they accepted and adopted many of the existing rites and cultural elements and blended them into their own rich traditions.

So when we celebrate Bealtaine today, we see it as a Celtic festival, but in fact we are following much more ancient traditions, established by people who arrived in Ireland more than 10,000 years ago. There was a strong bond between those ancient people and Nature, whose immense force and power they respected and worshipped.
Today's celebrants are of course modern people, who live in modern houses, drive cars and have normal jobs. But the deep respect and reverence for Mother Earth and the forces of Nature have survived and are parts of daily life for many Irish people who follow the Old Path.

The well-known round-song "Sumer is icumen in" is probably the oldest piece of music in this part of the world. Its age can only be guessed, but it is clearly of Celtic origin. The oldest surviving manuscript (see above) giving us the text (in medieval English) and music of it dates from 1260. But as all the old lore, stories and songs it was passed on - by word of mouth - from generation to generation for centuries and probably millennia. And when we sing it today - still using the medieval words (although there are translations into modern English) - we feel close to all our long gone ancestors who sang it before us since time immemorial.

Sumer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweþ sed and bloweþ med
And springþ þe wde nu,
Sing cuccu!
Awe bleteþ after lomb,
Lhouþ after calue cu.
Bulluc sterteþ, bucke uerteþ,
Murie sing cuccu!
Cuccu, cuccu, wel singes þu cuccu;
Ne swik þu nauer nu.

Sing cuccu nu. Sing cuccu.
Sing cuccu. Sing cuccu nu!

I like to take this opportunity to wish everyone - here in Ireland and anywhere in the world -

Bealtaine Shona,

a happy and warm Summer full of joy, and for whatever you do the best of luck!

The Emerald Islander

A Quarter of Mammals at Risk of Extinction

At least a quarter of the world's mammal species are at risk of extinction, according to a first assessment of their status for a decade.

The Red List of Threatened Species says populations of more than half of mammalian species are falling, with Asian primates particularly at risk. The biggest threat to mammals is loss of habitat, including deforestation.

But there is good news for the African elephant, whose recovery leads to his removal from the high-risk list.

This year's Red List looks at 5487 mammals, and concludes that 1141 are currently on the path towards disappearance. This may be an under-estimate, the authors caution, as there is not enough data to make an assessment in more than 800 cases. The true figure could be nearer to one-third.

"Within our lifetime, hundreds of species could be lost as a result of our own actions, a frightening sign of what is happening to the ecosystems where they live," said Julia Marton-Lefevre, director-general of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) which publishes the Red List.

"We must now set clear targets for the future to reverse this trend, to ensure that our enduring legacy is not to wipe out many of our closest relatives."

The report's authors say that the current concern with financial matters must not be allowed to obstruct the decline in the Earth's natural systems.

"The financial crisis is nothing compared with the environmental crisis," the deputy head of IUCN's species programme, Jean-Christophe Vie, states.
"It's going to affect a few people, whereas the biodiversity crisis is going to affect the entire world. So there is a risk that because of the financial crisis, people are going to say 'yeah, the environment is not that urgent'; well, it is really urgent."

About 40% of mammal species are compromised because human expansion is putting a squeeze on their habitat. This is especially important across the tropics, the regions with the highest diversity of land-based mammals.

South and Southeast Asia are identified as regions where extinctions are especially likely in coming years, as that is where the size and living standards of the human population are rising fastest.
The second biggest threat on land is identified as hunting, for food or medicines.

However, where hunting has been controlled and serious conservation programmes were implemented - as with the southern and eastern populations of the great African elephant - populations and entire species can recover.
The elephant's risk status has now been lowered from 'Vulnerable' to 'Near Threatened'.

Some species are included in the list for very specific reasons, such as the Tasmanian Devil (right), which has been decimated by a viral cancer.

In the seas, by-catch - entanglement in fishing nets, which is usually although not always accidental - emerges as the biggest factor behind current declines, affecting a staggering 79% of marine mammals.

The assessment - which is also published in the journal Science - warns that lack of data about marine mammals may be masking a bigger decline.

"Whales, dolphins, porpoises, and sirenians (manatees and dugong) are so difficult to survey that declines that should result in a Vulnerable listing would go undetected at least 70% of the time," the authors write.

Outside the mammal arena, the Indian tarantula enters the Red List for the first time, a consequence of over-harvesting for the pet trade.

A further 366 amphibians have been added to the list. This is the most threatened animal group of all, with about one-third on the high-risk list.

A new assessment of climate impacts on the natural world suggests that many species not currently on the danger list will enter it as global temperatures rise, particularly in East Africa and parts of South America.

The Red List is published approximately once every year. Although designed as the definitive global list of threatened species, in practice the rankings come from assessments covering different types of plants and animals, and some areas of the list will be more up to date than others.

An assessment of sharks, originally slated for inclusion this year, was delayed and will probably be released later in the year.

In an attempt to make species assessments more certain, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is developing what they colloquially term a "Dow Jones index" for biodiversity.

The idea is to take a random sample of all the world's species, which will be representative of the whole, and revisit it regularly - perhaps once every five years - to gain a better idea of global trends.

"We are now emerging from the dark ages of conservation knowledge, when we relied on data from a highly restricted subset of species," said Jonathan Baillie, director of the conservation programmes of ZSL.

The first group to be assessed this way is the land-dwelling vertebrates, but the project will eventually encompass insect, fungi, plants, and various types of marine creatures.

RED LIST DEFINITIONS
Extinct - Surveys suggest last known individual has died.
Critically Endangered - Extreme high risk of extinction.
Some Critically Endangered species are also tagged Possibly Extinct.
Endangered - Species at very high risk of extinction.
Vulnerable - Species at high risk of extinction.
Near Threatened - May soon move into above categories.
Least Concern - Species is widespread and abundant.
Data Deficient - Not enough data to assess.