May Country Days and Country Ways

  In April Spring is in the air

But in May Spring is on the ground

From 'The Illustrated Country Year' by Celia Lewis

For ancient Celtic people May 1st was Beltane (Bel's Fire). The first day of summer and bonfires were lit to help the sun regain it's strength. A day of feasting and in many places there are still traditional events on this day, involving dancing round maypoles, May Queens, Garland dancers and Morris men and hobby horses.

The May-pole is up,

Now give us a cup,

I'll drink to the garlands around it,

But first unto those,

Whose hands did compose

The glory of flowers that crowned it.

'The May-pole' by Robert Herrick, 1648

Most old sayings prefer a wet and cold month, we need some of the wet bit - especially for the farmers' fields as April was a record breaking month for sunshine and warmth (love it for myself but not good for crops).

May damp and cool fills the barns and wine vats

Water in May is bread all the year

A cold May is kindly,

And fills the barn nicely.

A wet May

Makes a big load of hay.

In the middle of May comes the tail of the winter

And a warning for shepherds

Shear your sheep in May,

And shear them all away.

Watch out for late frosts around the third week of May. These are attributed to Saint Dunstan (or St. Franklin in some versions). Apparently he made a pact with the devil in order to obtain good sales of his beer. In return for his soul the devil promised to attack the blossoms of the  apple trees in the orchards so that the cider makers would have less cider to sell.

The Full Moon this month is on the 12th and was called The Milk Moon or Mother's Moon.

Apologies for anyone with a really good memory because much of this post has been on May 1st posts in previous years back to 2017!

Back Soon

Sue