Here are some suggestions for celebrating Bealltainn at home:

Celebrating based on Scottish customs

• On Bealltainn eve symbolically extinguish a flame and relight it, echoing the lighting of the teine eigin. Use a candle if a bonfire cannot be lit outside and you don’t have a hearth you can use. If a bonfire can be lit, use lucky woods only, and add a few branches of rowan if possible. Also take the fire inside the house (or to each household if possible) using a branch of rowan (or other lucky wood), lighting a candle inside if you have no fireplace to light a fire in. Once the flames have died down, the bonfire can be jumped over to ensure protection in the coming year etc, and if two bonfires can be lit, everyone can walk between them for saining. Everyone can take away some of the ashes to spread over their own property to sain/purify it in the coming year as well.
• The bonnach Bealltainn can be made and consumed with a caudle drink at the bonfire, or else make them for breakfast on Bealltainn morning. Consume with sheep’s cheese and lots of butter. With one of the bannocks, break it up for offerings, first to protect members of the household (naming the person as you offer a piece and so on) and then to protect against negative influences (naming such influences for each piece etc). Offer a libation of caudle with a separate offering to the gods as well.
• On Bealltainn eve, feast on lamb for dinner (traditional), or make a feast of your favourite foods if you’re vegetarian or don’t like lamb.
• On the eve, decorate the house with lots of greenery - yellow flowers are most traditional, such as primrose, marigolds, or buttercups. Boughs of juniper, elder, ivy, whitethorn or brambles can also be used.
• Make crosses of rowan tied with red thread, or rowan wands and place above the threshold of the house for protection in the coming year. Placing a cross or wand in the attic is said to protect against fire. A small cross can be made and carried to ensure safe journeys. A piece of rowan in the midden (garbage/bin) ensures protection from witches or malignant spirits. Keep the rowan in place for the year, and when you come to replace them next Bealltainn the old bits of rowan can be burnt on the bonfire/hearth (if possible).
• Before sunrise on Bealltainn morning go out and collect morning dew from grass or corn. This dew can be kept and stored in sunny place until it is needed for healing. It’s said to be particularly effective for skin complaints or headaches; washing your face in it is meant to preserve youthful looks (or if you’re brave, roll naked in the dewy grass for an all over effect!), and washing your hands in it ensures suppleness. You are supposed to let the dew dry naturally on your skin.
• Collect some water first thing in the morning and use to bless the house, the household and your property - or keep in the same way as dew, for healing, since the first water of the morning is considered most potent. To bless the house, put either gold or silver in the water, or spit in it yourself. Then using a piece of straw (the sop seile - ’spittle wisp’), sprinkle the water deosil about the house, concentrating on the threshold, hearth, doorposts and so on, saying something appropriate - a heartfelt prayer, or look in the Carmina for a traditional blessing or Good Wish.

Celebrating with Irish customs

• On Bealltainn eve symbolically extinguish a flame and relight it, echoing the lighting of the teine eigin. Use a candle if a bonfire cannot be lit outside and you don’t have a hearth you can use. If a bonfire can be lit, use lucky woods only, and add a few branches of rowan if possible. Also take the fire inside the house (or to each household if possible) using a branch of rowan (or other lucky wood), lighting a candle inside if you have no fireplace to light a fire in. Once the flames have died down, the bonfire can be jumped over to ensure protection in the coming year etc, and if two bonfires can be lit, everyone can walk between them for saining. Everyone can take away some of the ashes to spread over their own property to sain/purify it in the coming year as well.
• On the eve, decorate the house with lots of greenery - yellow flowers are most traditional, such as primrose, marigolds, buttercups or cowslips. Boughs of juniper, elder, gorse, ivy, whitethorn or brambles can also be used to make the May bush (shrubs are also handy for this if you want to make one outside), to ensure prosperity in the coming year. Decorate the bough/bush with brightly coloured ribbons, streamers, scraps of cloth, and lots of candles. Light the candles on the eve of Bealltainn as you begin the festivities. You can use the bough as the focus for offerings if you like. The bough was usually burnt on the evening of Bealltainn itself, or sometimes a month after the festivities began.
• Before sunrise on Bealltainn morning go out and collect morning dew from grass or corn. This dew can be kept and stored a in sunny place until it is needed for healing. It’s said to be particularly effective for skin complaints or headaches; washing your face in it is meant to preserve youthful looks (or if you’re brave, roll naked in the dewy grass for an all over effect!), and washing your hands in it ensures suppleness. You are supposed to let the dew dry naturally on your skin.
• Collect some water first thing in the morning on Bealltainn and use to bless the house, the household and your property - or keep in the same way as dew, for healing, since the first water of the morning is considered most potent. The first skim of the well/draw of water was called sgaith an tobair in Ireland. Candles were lit around the house and the water was used to bless the threshold, the hearth, the cardinal points and each member of the household.