Thanks for that! Though Beltane is tied to the May Day, it is not the only such occasion, and others have had sacrifice tied to them, either before or after the May Day naming has began. Wikipedia is full of that stuff.
It's risky to assume that the tradition is identical in all places, or across all times. It's rarely the case with mythic traditions that span centuries and an entire continent.
Oh I know. I was very active in my youth in the norse and celtic pagan circles. During that time ordo templi orientis, the church of satan and the OTO tried to recruit me.As a child in jamaica I was exposed to Jamaican Voodoo as someone in our household was a priestess unbeknownst to my parents. So I have a pretty good knowledge base on the subject. Or religion in general as I was once very much interested in all that and it was once my foundation ...