Tag Archives: pagan

Welcome May!

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Happy May Day, hopefully you are, you won’t have to send out a Mayday call!

The “MaydayMaydayMayday” distress call originated in the 1920s as a way to communicate a serious emergency.. Frederick Stanley Mockford, a senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in England, proposed using “mayday” because it sounded like the French phrase “m’aider” (help me). 

Since the United States is mired in an emergency of chaos and destruction, a mayday call might actually be totally appropriate. HELP US!!!

But May Day is special for other reasons:

May 1 is also International Workers’ Day, a day for workers to celebrate and advocate for their rights. Today is all about demonstrations and activism, particularly related to labor issues and social justice. There are planned events all over the country, and one this afternoon near our beach, too.

In Celtic, May Day or Beltane means “lucky fire.” Beltane is a pagan ritual celebrating the height of spring. Today, people celebrate May Day by making flower crowns and baskets, planting flowers for the spring, decorating their homes in bright colors to embrace the change, nature walks, picnics, and enjoying the outdoors. Bonfires have been a part of Beltane rituals for generations, to dance around fire and rejoice in the wonders of the season. 

I don’t have a maypole to dance around and I prefer to commune with nature and probably will NOT start a bonfire because we haven’t had any rain in a while, so it’s not a great idea.

Happy Beltane!

Art credit to respective creators.

May Day is Ah-MAY-Zing!

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Gather all the little children
With May flowers in their hair
For they shall dance
Around the maypole
For they shall dance
The day away

May Day blessings to all – A little May Day poem by Athey Thompson

For me, the month of May is the BEST not only because of Mother’s Day but it’s also my birthday month.

Last year Mother’s Day and my birthday fell on the same day. It’s an extra special treat for my two favorite days to be combined into one celebration.

The best known modern May Day traditions include dancing around the maypole and crowning the May Queen. Fading in popularity is the tradition of giving of “May baskets”, small baskets of candy or flowers. I think we should revive that adorable custom, don’t you?

Just in time for May Day, I found an adorable porcelain flower basket at Goodwill for about three dollars and I HAD to bring it home with me.

So far, this month started off in an ah-MAY-zing way.

Since it wasn’t a great video, I won’t post it, but THREE coyotes came to visit last night– THREE! — all together, and early this morning at first light, another coyote visit was captured on my wildlife camera. That’s NEVER happened before and I am soso excited.

The weather is warming up; all the fruit trees are flowering, the roses and ceanothus and lavender are in bloom, and baby birds are hatching.

Beltane, which takes also takes place on May 1st, is a celebration of the abundance of Earth and the forces of Nature. Bonfires are traditionally set to engender a sense of connection with ourselves and all living beings, but that wouldn’t be a smart thing to do in our wildfire ravaged state, so the flame from a safe candle must suffice.

Happy May Day and Happy Beltane!