The realization that the month of May is nearly upon us always brings The Lusty Month of May from the movie Camelot (1967) to my mind.

Before the forbidden romance and the tragic fall of Camelot, there was the Lusty Month of May, described in the Lerner & Loewe song as the lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray. Either that, or they succumb to hay fever.

And truly, history abounds with romantic notions about May. The Romans may have been the first celebrate May as part of their Floralia Festival from April 28 to May 3 in honor of the goddess Flora, who presided over Youth, Spring, and Flowers. Celebrations included games, plays, and events to promote fertility such as releasing animals and scattering beans.

[Sidebar: You may wonder why Romans thought scattering beans was good for fertility. I certainly did. According to Jennifer Evans at the University of Hertfordshire, early medical and botanical sources detailed foods that filled the body with wind, or what we might call flatulence. These writers thought wind filled the body with lust. Thus, beans, nuts and pulses enhanced the male libido which, in turn, improved fertility.]

Meanwhile . . .

The Roman army marched across Europe and reached Briton in 43 CE. Over the next 45 years, the Roman army increased its control over the island, and Floralia merged with the Celtic Beltane to create a new festival that featured bonfires, flowers, a maypole, and a queen.

By the Middle Ages, the spring festival was complete.

Villagers went a-maying to collect flowers and a tall birch tree to serve as a maypole for the festival of games, pageants, and dances. A pair of oxen dragged the maypole, a fertility symbol, into the village. Once in place, the maypole was raised and decorated with colorful streamers dancers carried in a circular dance to encourage fertility in crops and livestock.

And what would May Day be without a May Queen to symbolize Spring, dressed in a white gown and a crown of flowers.

In some traditions, the May Queen battles the Winter Queen for dominance as the new growing season commences. And some say the May Queen is Guinevere in Camelot or Lady Marian in Robin Hood. As spring flows into summer and crops ripen, the May Queen enters a mothering phase that continues until autumnal Samhain when Cailleach sends the May Queen and mother away into the darkness.

When winter comes to an end, Cailleach stamps her staff into the ground and becomes a mountain. On the night of Beltane, the May Queen is reborn as warmth and fertility return.

Illustrations & A Few Sources

Goddess Flora by Luca Giordano; Maypole Dancing at Village Fair at Bishopstone, East Sussex by Kevin Gordon, 2006; Queen Guinevere’s Maying by John Collier, 1900; Landscape with the Floralia by Andrea Locatelli 1715-1741. Jennifer Evans. “When Beans Were the Food of Lust.” BBC History Magazine. 2014. 45-47. Patti Wiggingoton. “Legend of the May Queen.” Learn Religions. Dec. 21, 2019

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The post The Lusty Month of May first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.

The Celts believed that the time we define as May Day was midway between the Winter and Summer Solstice when darkness turned to light. They celebrated the return of fertility to the world with a festival called Beltane. Rituals protected sprouting crops and livestock returning to summer pastures.

As customs changed, May celebrations turned into a party. People harvested Maypoles from the woods, erected them in the village, and decorated them with garlands of flowers. The first Maypoles may have been fertility symbols with the pole representing male fertility and the baskets and wreaths symbolizing females.

There was also dancing around the Maypole. Young lads and lasses danced and socialized. If a couple paired up at sundown, courtship ensued, and the young people married on Midsummer Day in June. The practice remains with us in the popularity of June weddings.

Maypole dancing never became a popular American activity, but May Baskets caught on. Participants created baskets with flowers, candy, and other treats – perhaps a kitten?

The person giving the May Basket hung it on a front door, knocked on the door, yelled May Basket!, and ran away. If the recipient caught the giver, he or she was entitled to a kiss. This custom was most popular among children and sweethearts.

May is a magical month. The weather is warm but not stifling. Flowers bloom. When I taught, May meant the teaching year was almost over, and long summer days beckoned. In May, anything is possible.

So, celebrate May Day as you think best – with a song, or a dance, or even a Maypole – to recognize that the dark days are over for another season.

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Illustrations

Bonfire at 2019 Beltane Fire Festival in Edinburgh by Nyri0

Raising the Maypole, 1855, by Frederick Goodall

Dancing Around the Maypole. Photo by Joep Zander at Dutch Wikipedia

A Basket of Cats by Leon Huber

Young Girl with Basket of Flowers by Leon Bazille Perrault

The post May Day Celebrations first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.

Lei Day, officially launched in 1928, is a popular festival in Hawai`i. Don Blanding, then a columnist for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, came up with the idea, later saying that at the time Hawai`i had no day that was special. Why not have a Lei Day – a day when everyone could wear lei and give lei? Grace Tower Warren, another columnist, suggested May 1st would be the perfect day. Coincidentally, she came up with the slogan: May Day is Lei Day in Hawai`i.

Princess Helen Kawananākoa, approved, saying “the nicest part of Lei Day is that it brings kamaainas together again.”

The Honolulu Star Bulletin reported that the new event took off. “Lei blossomed on straw and felt hats, lei decorated automobiles, men and women and children wore them draped about their shoulders.”

Even Governor Judd caught the spirit. The following year he urged residents to “observe the day and honor the traditions of Hawaii nei by wearing and displaying lei.”

Leonard Hawk wrote a song for the new holiday, one that perpetuates the theme. “May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii” was written as a foxtrot, though now the music is adapted to hula. You can sing along with King Nawahi’s Hawaiians.

MODERN LEI DAY CELEBRATIONS

The City and County of Honolulu holds an Annual Lei Day Celebration at Kapi`olani Park to celebrate lei and the artistry of Hawai`i’s lei makers. This year’s theme is Lei `Aloha Kea – The brilliant white lei, the platinum of kupuna. Charlene Leimomi Irvine is the 90th Lei Queen. She has two princesses in her Court: First Princess Helen Mealoha Yuk Jun Kuoha-Torco and Princess Sharon Rose Marie Au-Curtis. Free lei-making workshops have been held throughout O`ahu with participants encouraged to enter the Lei Competition on Lei Day.

Lei Day is celebrated at many Hawai`i public schools, especially at the elementary level. Each year a boy and girl from the graduating class is voted to represent each island. Children construct paper leis and cardboard mats to sit on during the festivities. When Lei Day arrives, the royal court marches in costume to preside over events. Family and friends are invited to watch students sing songs from Hawai`i and other parts of Polynesia and perform dances. Besides hula, there may be the Maori poi dance, Filipino stick dance, and Samoan slap dances. Relay races are often part of the event

Lei Day is a joyful event. A time to relax with friends and share aloha. When a lei is made, the mana of the creator is woven into the flowers. Thus, when you give lei, you give a part of yourself. When you receive lei, you receive part of the person who created it.

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Princess Helen Kawananākoa quoted in Leilehua Yuen. “May Day is Lei Day in Hawai`i.” Ke Ola. May-June 2016.

Quotations from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin taken from “May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii.” Perfect Days Hawaii.

Illustrations from Wikimedia Commons:

Leis by Janine. Creative Commons Attribution.

Princess Abigail Helen Kawanākoa. Public Domain.

Lei Day Hawaii by Charles W. Bartett. Hand Colored Etching. Public Domain.

Eight strand Lei Niihau, Bishop Museum. By Heart. Creative Commons Attribution.

Still Life with Ilima Lei and Coconut by Helen Whitney Kelley. Watercolor. Public Domain.

For More Information:

Hundreds Turn Out for 89th Annual Lei Day Celebration. KITV. May 1, 2016

Lei Day Celebration. City and County of Honolulu.

Lyrics: May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii. Squareone

Cara Fasone. May Day in Hawaii. Hawaiian Culture Stories.

Marie Tutko. May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii. Kings Hawaiian. April 29, 2013.

Nina Wu. “Honolulu’s 90th Lei Queen and Court Crowned.” Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Mar. 5, 2018.

The post MAY DAY IS LEI DAY IN HAWAI`I first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.