May Day
On the heels of Hexennacht, when the cattle were blessed in the smoke of the fire before being sent to their summer fields, we celebrate May Day! Halfway between the spring and summer solstice, May Day is often considered to be the first day of summer. Warmer days are becoming normal. The Spring rains that helped to nourish the awakening fields have begun to taper off. The world around us is verdant again.
On May Day, sometimes called Sumermál, big celebrations were held both to celebrate the end of the harder days of winter and to bless themselves and their crops for a fertile and productive year. Men and women leapt over fires together or alone, wishing for fertility in the coming year. The Maypole was raised and around it, people danced and wove their ribbons. Women decorated their windows and doors with flowers and wove them into their hair.
May Day is the coming together of men and women to celebrate life. We use this time to celebrate all the good things that we have, all of the things that we have worked hard for. We have survived the harsh months when stagnation is so easy a thing to fall into. When the celebration is done, the real hard work begins. The plan that was set into motion at Charming of the Plow will now begin the active stage. Those seeds that you planted, or that project that you planned, at Ostara, will now need real tending. May Day marks the beginning. It marks the start of growth.
Where one has the will, all things can happen.