Will You Be Dancing Around The May Pole This Friday?

Dancing around the phallic Maypole is just one way to celebrate the fertility aspect of Spring ("May Day" is known as "Beltane" to most Witches) . I remember back when I was a child -- about three hundred million-trillion-gadzillion years ago now -- when I attended grade-school in Seattle. My kindergarten, first and second grade teachers all asked (in subsequent years) the students to weave "May Day" baskets from construction paper strips. The baskets were for holding whatever wildflowers we'd pluck later on.

The idea was to fill those baskets with whatever flowers we found and to take one to any of a number of neighboring front doors. We'd hang a flower basket on the door knob from it's paper handle. Otherwise we'd rest the flower basket on the stoop before ringing the doorbell. Then, before the residents could open the door to discover who was there, we would run really fast to hide (so their hand-crafted gift would be received anonymously.)

It was such a blessed thing to do as a child. I remember hiding in bushes giggling as one Caucasion neighbor-lady in particular found my basket each year and acted so very animatedly surprised.

As I study Scandinavian and Norse mythology I realize these seeming "rituals" of spring date way back . . . and I feel saddened to think they seem to be going by the wayside now. At least -- I haven't heard of any local children passing out May baskets to anyone; not since I did it in the second grade.

Have you heard of such a seasonal ritual??? Ever???

Many of us have felt the huge energetic shift in response to the economy -- not to mention seasonal and social changes as immigration and migration for jobs continues to change what our neighbors and friends tend to look like (and I'm not just talking abut haggard stares).

My hope is that you, dear CyberCoven member, will do something FUN on Beltane. Leap over a small bonfire or weave a paper basket to fill with wildflowers (and give it to a loved one). The death-grip of winter is now over. SPRING IS HERE!

Let's celebrate!
~ SunTiger