An Bó
5 Things We Can Learn Today (2026)From An Ancient Irish Summer Ritual About Cows
Written by
Dillon Burns, Founder of TáTú
Janurary 19, 2026.
Idir dhá thine Bealtaine, between the two fires on Bealtaine, is an ancient summer ritual that was held on May 1st each year for thousands of years.
Idir dhá thine tells the tale of driving a herd of cattle between two blazing bonfires on the first day of summer. It was not done simply for the spectacle or “the criac”, though I’m sure plenty of this was to be found, but instead because of a deep understanding of the laws of the cosmos and for the real effects these can bestow on the vitality of the animals. The process resulted in the clearing and protection of the herd helping to safeguard their vitality for the clan/community into the coming season and beyond.
5 things we can learn today from Idir dhá thine Bealtaine
3. Ancient people understood the workings and powers of the cosmo and detailed 9 elements (Dúile) that could be harnessed or worked with for gain.
The ancient Irish cosmological system was detailed and extensive. It used the main 4 elements air, fire, water, earth, (aer, uisce, tine, talamh) but also incorporated an additional 5 elements stone, plant life, wind, moon, cloud (cloch, uaine, gaeth, gealach, nél) to make a 9 element system of the cosmos. Sén in old Irish, means to charm with smoke (also known as saining). It was one such example of harnessing the elements of uaine, aer and tine together to bring well-being benefits. For example it has been proven scientifically that smoke from certain herbs conduct negative ions which changes the chemical composition of the air around us. So to sén with smoke is physically changing the composition of the environment. Our ancient ancestors knew this already. Negative ions in nature are found in abundance by the sea and up mountains and in forests and form a central component in the benefits of forest bathing and have proven benefits for our brain health. By driving the cattle through burning plants (like rowan) the people were saining their animals changing the composition of the air which they breath and bath in, which had the potential to protect their brain health and cleanse their auric fields.
What we can learn now:
Real life isn’t in our phones its in the elements of the cosmos all around us. When we start to work with our energies and the elements more consciously, we start to come into more harmony, balance and rhythm with the cosmos again, this makes us feel more alive again!
4. Ancient People were deeply connected to the cycles of life in the land
sentence on spirit in the land and animals and spending season after season year after working with the land. to do
What we can learn now:
living with the cycles in nature not against them.
2. Ancient People understood natural energetic forces a lot better than most of us do today
Energy fields exist all around us in various forms, geopathic, magnetic, electro-magnetic, electrical, bio-electrical etc. Much of this energy is invisible to the human eyes and organ senses but the ancients knew them very well. So well indeed that much of the entire body of Irish-Celtic mythology and folklore is about this very subject, the invisible world. When the ancients drove cattle through bonfires on Bealtaine, I propose that they were consciously and skilfully working with invisible fields and in particular the bio-electrical auric field of the animals. How this works exactly is explained further below.
What we can learn now:
Not all things can be explained by what we can see or touch, our energies are being constantly affected 24/7 by the cosmos and the universe, our environment (electro-pollution, wifi cellular, geopathic stress etc), our thoughts, the people and animals whose bio-electrical fields we cross contact with everyday etc. Its a long list. The hugely beneficial thing we can learn is how to clear and cleanse our own invisible bio-electrical human aura field, which has numerous documented well-being benefits. There are many native-indigenous methods for clearing the human aura which will be detailed in an upcoming post. Subscribe to be sure to get it! subscriber link here.
1. Animals were not just meat, they were Sacred and Revered beings from the Divine.
The Irish language word Bó means cow, and it is one of the most ancient words in the Irish language. This is likely because some of Ireland’s greatest and oldest legends detail mythical stories about bulls and cows. In one such story, a very long time ago, a beautiful maiden arose from the sea in the west of Erin, she was a murúch (mermaid) and informed the people that she had been sent to their country by great spirit to announce the arrival in Ireland of the 3 sacred cows - Bo-finn, Bo-Ruadh and Bo-Dhu (white, red and black cows). They would fill the land with the most splendid cattle so that the people should never know want while the world lasted. Interestingly in this tale, the 3 sacred cows arrived up out of the sea the day before Idir dhá thine Bealtaine…I guess it took a day to get the fires ready.
Today there are still hundreds of name places across the island starting or containing the word Bó and with stories like these in the imagination of the people, is it any wonder they were revered and so highly prized?
What we can learn now:
How we treat the animals matters. Respecting nature and all its animal family as Sacred is how it should be now today as well. This should never change. We are all interconnected in the great web of life. It has also been proven that meat is better when wild, far more nutritious, and free of chemicals and amino acids are higher when animals are never caged or in trailers etc. and animals being sacred divine beings. rituals of blessing the animal, the tain bo and the god bulls etc meat was of the purest and most nutritious kind, no chemicals or bag feeds, all roaming and wild paster raised and slaughtered on site where they were born and raised with no stress of modern transportation. Stronger ligaments, tendon’s, connective tissues. The animals had the best lives and people had the best meat. We need to return to a sacred relationship with an bo and with the land.
5. What we have gained materially we have lost equally in whats deeper and more sacred.
We can rightly be grateful for our modern lives which are so abundant and rich but ironically our ancient ancestors had something that was so much more - a deep connection to the sacred and the living nature of life and the land around them. An deeper experience of living, of being alive. Dancing around the fire under the stars while the cattle were driven through for protection and prosperity of the animals and the people whose lives depended upon them (and still do).
What we can learn now:
Our lives still depend on the prosperity of the land and the animals. Whether your vegan or full blown carnivore, we cannot live without the vitality of the land and earth. working with the animals and the elements brings us all into more harmony with the universe and greater sense of joy and valitly and aliveness in life right now.
Honouring An Bó Today
Organic clothing is free from toxic pesticides, fertilisers, GMO’s all of which are proven to harm people, the animals and the land of soil and plants and insects. Energetically, like between the two fires, we are more cleared and protected wearing organics than non-organics. All TaTu products are organic promoting a more natural way of living and honouring the land and animals that we all depend on.
An Bó Organic Sweater