I love the spring, but it takes till May to get into full swing. And then what a spectacle it provides: frothy blossoms in every shade of pink; the haze of bluebells in the woods, and at last skies unencumbered by charcoal clouds.
It is the month we put away our heavy sweaters and take out our summer clothes, so unfamiliar now, they feel like new.
The lawn experiences its first haircut (or not if you are observing no-mow May) and a sense of joyful anticipation is born. If ever there were a month made for celebrations, this is it.
The darling buds of May
As May begins, my garden becomes a Monet dream: filled with undefined masses of soft colour. Fruit trees erupt into every shade of pink from almost white to a deep magenta. This year, they are especially lush, since the continuous drizzly rain has nourished the trees.
These blossoms, so pretty to observe, also hold the promise of a good harvest – each bloom the base of a fruit. So far, we have been spared the ‘rough winds’ which often terminate these fruits before they form. My ancient cooking apple tree is the last to blossom. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the days will remain balmy or at least gale free.
Walking on sunshine
This year, in rather uncharacteristic fashion, our bank holiday was enjoyed with clear blues skies. Time, at last, to tackle the garden.
Blink and my garden fills with sticky willy (goose grass), bindweed and a tiny blue, forget-me-not type flower. The bind weed is the worst, slithering its way under the soil to pop up again metres away. It also has an unfortunate habit of strangling things.
I don’t have the energy to work in the garden for long (about 20 minutes is my limit), so I’m taking the little and often approach. It’s taken me three days, but I’ve cleared three rows in the vegetable patch and sown seeds in each.
When I’m tired, I work in the potting shed. Filling containers with compost and planting with seeds is workable even for me and some are already giving rewards for my efforts.
My mini sunflowers are looking happy and the cheap dried peas I sowed are now delightful pea sprouts ready for eating. My corn is progressing and so too my salad leaves. Today I need to plant my celeriac and beans to give them a chance to grow sufficiently hardy to put up some defences against the ubiquitous snails.
In the veg patch there is purple sprouting broccoli, some rainbow chard that self seeded, celery from old celery sticks and an abundance of herbs. It isn’t much and would hardly fill an empty stomach, but is it something.
For our ancestors, such bounty would have been a true blessing, for April is the starving month. Winter supplies are almost gone and the first greens only just appearing. Is it any wonder that the 1st of May has been celebrated since Roman times? For it gives the promise of life.
May Day traditions
As a little girl, in Junior school, I remember learning to dance around the Maypole. It was fairly hilarious and nothing as fine as the one below. We had no floral crowns nor white dresses – just the dull uniform of grey and green. Nor did we have a May king and queen. Yet, as below, I believe the boys were excluded from the dancing.
Image: Social History Archive on Unsplash
The tangling of ribbons and the intricacies of steps to avoid such a fate were all we focused on. The unsubtly phallic symbolism of the pole passed us by, as did the ancient beliefs from which it sprang. For the dance, like most May celebrations, centred around love, fertility and ensuing new life.
To ‘Go a-Maying’ was to set off in the evening (preferably with a romantic partner) to gather flowers and the branches of the newly blossoming hawthorn, whose common name is May. One returned at sunrise to decorate the home – no doubt at little tousled.
The Puritans, despisers of all things fun, attempted to squash the pagan and overtly sexual May celebrations, but succeeded only for the time that they were in power. Such irrepressible joy could not be dampened for long.
All across the Northern hemisphere, May is celebrated as an end to the austerity imposed by a brief growing season. Activities range from dancing to jumping fires; rolling cheeses to eating special foods – but each acknowledges that winter is truly passed and abundance about to begin.
Interestingly, May 1 is also International Worker’s Day celebrating the reduction of the working day from sixteen to eight hours: offering a new life to those caught in the chilly clutches of an industrial age.
Party, party, party!
This month is an especially happy one for me. Not only is it my birthday month but also for many friends and relatives – even the dog’s! And, of course, birthdays require gatherings, Prosecco and cake – lots of cake.
Our birthday commemorates our birth, yes, but it also looks forward. When we wish someone ‘Many happy returns’ we are saying that we hope their birthday celebrations will return next year and thereafter. Like May itself, the colourful birthday of the natural world, we look forward to it returning again next year.
And whatever you are doing this month, I hope you will find time to celebrate in your own way May’s promise of good times ahead.
