May Caroling

Preparing for a family celebration begins already a month beforehand. Some people start preparations already half a year before, but as we are having 8 Big Ones in a year, not just one or two, like those people, we won't be preparing a half a year in beforehand, just a month :-)

I like my Sabbaths divided somewhat evenly over the year. I my home there will not be a hoop of feasts and then a couple of months of empty waiting for the next one. When one feast is over, preparations for the next one begin, and that's how I like it and want it.

One of the things I like about Holidays are the songs... I believe everyone can sing. Perhaps not perfect, perhaps not even well, but well enough.

I love the caroling traditions, where people dress up for the role and create an event of something so simple as singing together. I have belonged to a couple of choirs in my life and I appreciate the togetherness very much.
Also, singing keeps your soul healthy...

May Day celebration in Härmälä, Finland in the 60's

And learn to play a guitar. They are not very expensive and it is not hard to play. It is not easy to play well, but it is easy to play well enough, and adding an accompany with a guitar is very nice.

You could also learn to play a simple flute, like a recorder. No, that's not an easy instrument to learn to play well either, none of them is, but it's easy to learn to play it well enough.

Just remember, well enough IS well enough. Done is better than perfect, and you are not supposed to be the world's best flute or guitar player, but be able to accompany singing.

Another thing you can consider getting and learning to use (and the same goes with that - well and well enough are two different things) is a hand drum. 

In Sweden they have a tradition called "May Song Guild" (Majsångargille). Guild is a Germanic word (Gilde) which means a gathering, association, society... These song guilds were formed of young men who would go from house to house and sing and expect to be rewarded with a little something, like wassailing or caroling tradition. One could see it as May Day Caroling.

Wassailing is aking to the trick-or-treat tradition, and if you enjoy caroling during Yuletide and Trick-or-treating at Samhain, do incorporate May Song Guild tradition to your Beltane as well.

Dress in all white or green and carry boughs with new-sprung leaves and have wreaths of flowering trees, especially hawthorn on your head, as you wander and sing Spring greetings.

"Now Is The Month Of Maying" should belong to your repertoir...

"O Lusty May" is a record with renaissance spring songs good for Maying. :-)

Here's also some nice suggestions: CanTeach; songs and poems; Spring

Calan Mai - First Day of May in Wales

From Wikipedia

Calan Mai

In Wales, May 1 is a holiday known as Calan Mai or Calan Haf, which means the first day of summer. Celebrations start on the evening before, known as May Eve, with bonfires; as with Calan Gaeaf, the night before (Nos Galan Mai) is an Ysbrydnos, or "spirit night," when spirits are out and about and divination is possible. The tradition of lighting bonfires celebrating this occasion happened annually in south Wales until the middle of the 19th century. It is the Welsh equivalent of the Goidelic Beltane and one of a number of similar May Day traditions in Europe.

==Customs==.

On Nos Galan Mai or May Eve, villagers gather hawthorn (draenen wen, literally whitethorn) branches and flowers which they would then use to decorate the outside of their houses, celebrating new growth and fertility.

In Anglesey and Caernarvonshire it would be common on May Eve to have gware gwr gwyllt (playing straw man) or crogi gwr gwellt (hanging a straw man). A man who had lost his sweetheart to another man would make a man out of straw and put it somewhere in the vicinity of where the girl lived. The straw man represented her new sweetheart and had a note pinned to it. Often the situation led to a fight between the two men at the May Fair.

Being the time between Summer and Winter, Calan Mai would be the time to stage a mock fight between the two seasons. The man representing Winter carried a stick of blackthorn (draenen ddu) and a shield that had pieces of wool stuck on it to represent snow. The man representing Summer was decorated with garlands of flowers and ribbons and carried a willow-wand which had spring flowers tied on it with ribbons. A mock battle took place in which the forces of Winter threw straw and dry underbrush at the forces of Summer who retaliated with birch branches, willow (helygen) rods, and young ferns (rhedyn). Eventually the forces of Summer would win and a May King and Queen were chosen and crowned, after which there was feasting, dancing, games and drinking until the next morning.

May Day was the time that the twmpath chwarae was officially opened. The Welsh equivalent of the Irish ceili is a twmpath. Through the summer months in some Welsh villages, the people would gather on the twmpath chwarae, (literally, tump for playing), the village green, in the evenings to dance and play various sports. The green was usually situated on the top of a hill and a mound was made where the fiddler or harpist sat. Sometimes branches of oak decorated the mound and the people would dance in a circle around it.

Dawnsio haf, summer dancing, was a feature of the May Day celebration, as was carolau Mai, May carols, also known as carolau haf, summer carols or canu dan y pared, singing under the wall (songs being often of a bawdy or sexual nature). The singers would visit families on May morning accompanied by a harpist or fiddler, to wish them the greetings of the season and give thanks to "the bountiful giver of all good gifts." If their singing was thought worthy, they would be rewarded with food, drink, and possibly money.

Common drinks during Calan Mai festivities were metheglin or mead. Sometimes it was made of herbs, including woodruff, a sweet-smelling herb which was often put in wine in times past to make a man merry and act as a tonic for the heart and liver. Elderberry and rhubarb wines were popular and the men also liked various beers.

Countdown to Beltane, Day 1

Today is April Fools' Day.

It's 30 days to Beltane, the feast of feasts and song and dance and merrymaking and lovemaking...

Last year I posted "countdown to Ostara" with heavy posts every day, starting 30 days before Ostara. I did it to give the Pagan community something to think about, to see Spring Equinox as any other Holiday, give us ideas and information, links to tutorials and recipes etc.

I was very disappointed by the lack of interest - as it seemed to me, because I really cannot know if anyone reads or appreciated my work, unless you leave a comment... It was very dishearthening, and as I then tried to continue with Countdown to Beltane, I didn't have the spirit to do that. I hope I'll do better this year. This is a really important thing to me, you see, and I would like to add more to the Pagan resource box called Internet...

So, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE, comment.
It would be enough to just say ":-)" or "thanks for posting this", if you find it hard to express your thoughts, or just that you read what I have written. "XXX was here" is enough.
Of course, it would be nice, if you added that you like it, hate it, disagree, agree, found something worth reading it in it or anything. Just let me know I'm not alone. It feels like that so very often, and I do get sad, even though I try to tell myself that people do read.

If you give me a link to your blog, I will post it.

If you leave links to an interesting page, I'll link to that, and credit you.

If you have a shop selling things that might work for Beltane, I'll link to that too, and happily, as I think it's great that people can support themselves with the work of their hands and creativity, and I'm overjoyed by the idea of being able to promote my fellow Pagan artisans' endeavors and enterprises. :-)

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In France April Fools is called Poisson d'avril, the April Fish. The March-April issue of Marie Claire Idées is usually full of fishes made in different art and craft methods, and in France they give chocolate fishes to each other on this day.

Sounds like a much better tradition than the practical jokes version.

But if you love the prankster tradition, try to do it with kindness and consideration. I just read about some idiot parents, who thought it was a great prank to play on their children (7 and 12) to trick them into cleaning the household by promising $100 to the one who did better job. The $100 was fake... Then the mother said that they gave both kids $30 as reward anyway, but it doesn't change the fact that the one who won the challenge got a piece of paper and the whole family laughed at him... Yeah... be a good boy and you end up being the laughing stock of everyone. Nice.

No - things like painting the soap with clear nail polish, or... harmless fun. Nothing that causes people anguish, pain or shame because they are nice, kind and gentle people, trying to help.

Taping the toilet seat ring to the cover so that one has to sit on the cold china is an ok prank.

Putting some good flavor in the toothbrush is a good prank, but not putting in something that tastes bad or makes your mouth burn or itch or numb. That's not a good prank.

But - I have Asperger's. I depend on things being what they look like.
To me the prank of covering onions with toffee and making fake candy apples would be cruel, because I would never eat another candied apple in my life.
To me making fake chocolate eclairs, filling them with chili, salt, cinnamon paste, garlic, mint toothpaste or plastic flies would be cruel.
To me having someone impersonate a police man and telling me I have done something illegal and will be punished, would be horrible.
Promising me something if I do something and then it turns out that something was not what was promised, would not be funny. It would be a promise broken, and I would not trust you again. (Like promising someone iPod, but giving him an eyepad in iPod box... No.)

Colombina by Mark Satchwill


I have to say that I would rather have people play jokes on their own cost.

Have a Fool day.

Do everything the exact opposite.

And not only do the exact opposite of what you were asked to do, or eating the desserts first, or making the dinner where savory dishes look like desserts and vice versa. Not only wearing your clothes insideout, or pants as a jacket and a shirt like pants.

When you are afraid of doing something, you should do just that.
When your inner voice tells you you are worthless, tell it it's wrong, you are very valuable and worthy, as there is not one other being on the whole universe like you.
When you notice you are looking down, look up.
If you "always" go right, go left this time.

You are The Fool. You have the right to look the people in their eyes and see them, really SEE them.
You have the right to do foolish and silly things, dare and try, experience and live the life like a child, as if you were seeing everything the first time.
If the stars were visible only once in every 100 years, everyone would gather out to watch the amazing show. Act as if they were visible for only tonight. If it's cloudy, you can repeat the experiment tomorrow, or day after that. It doesn't matter, because they ARE up there, every night.
But YOU might not be around, so don't push until tomorrow what you can do today.

Except if it's boring. If you are not around tomorrow, no-one will care whether your dishes are done and your shoes in perfect order.

(It might be a good idea to wear something that informs people of that you are celebrating the April Fools, and you are The Fool today, so they won't get confused.)

Some influence for this post:
Origins of April's Fools' Day
Female Tricksters 
Trickster Women
The Trickster: A God's Evolution

Countdown to Beltane, Day 1

Today is April Fools' Day. It's 30 days to Beltane, the feast of feasts and song and dance and merrymaking and lovemaking...

I am going to post a similar countdown to Beltane as I posted to Ostara, and the same goes as for Ostara countdown; if you leave comments, I'll link to your blog, or if you leave links to an interesting page, I'll link to that.

I appreciate comments, it would be enough to just say ":-)" or "thanks for posting this", if you find it hard to express your thoughts. Just give me a little word to remind me I'm not alone. :-)

I was reminded of the difficulty of reading heavy posts, so I will be sharing the information into three: in this will be information relevant to household, living and general holiday information, myths and lore;
in Need More Fiber will be all crafts, daily ornament and such and
in Goddess Food will be all the recipes and menu suggestions, and Goddess information.

You might wonder about my choice of separator line? Christian?
No. This one is fully Pagan.

First, it's a sign of fish made with waxing and waning crescent of the moon, just like the zodiac sign of Fishes is. In that sign the two moon crescents represent two fishes and are back to back, tied together with a line.

The legend tells that Aphrodite tied her son Eros to herself so that he wouldn't get lost, when they were threatened by Typhon, transformed into fishes and swam to safety.

This fish sign is the Mandorla, almond shape, the shape of the vulva.

This fish was also the symbol of the sea God Oannes.
(Oannes-Ioannes association, Fisherking and Kingfisher, and John the Baptist - Bran the Blessed association)

Fish is also the symbol of April 1st. Poisson d'avril, the April Fish, is what April Fool is called in France. The March-April issue of Marie Claire Idées is usually full of fishes made in different art and craft methods, and in France they give chocolate fishes to each other on this day.
Sounds like a much better tradition than the practical jokes version.

This fish is a sign for Beltane.

Kitsune - Japanese trickster spirit

"Tibetan thangka. This dakini is of high status, considered to be a Female Buddha. Her dancing power is iconic, repeated in almost all dakini images. Like Kali, she wears a garland of severed heads. In her right hand she holds a knife used for cutting away illusions, including the illusion of separate ego identity. With the dorje handle of the blade, using the butt, she shatters all mirrors of subjectivity. In her left arm she cradles a magic staff adorned with banners. In her left hand she holds a skull-cup filled with blood—hence the term, blood-drinking dakini. The five-skull crown signifies the Tantric principle of transmutation of the poisons of the five emotions (variously named): anger, jealousy, greed, hatred, and obtusity or denial. The dakini drinks these emotions ecstatically, for to her they are taste delicious and converts them into wisdom nectars."

Colombine-Arlecchina - the female trickster from Commedia dell'arte

Colombina by Mark Satchwill

Old tarot fools

It looks to me like the symbolical meaning of The Fool has been changed quite a bit during the years we have practiced tarot...
Nevertheless, the tarot Fool is an interesting card.

If you plan to take the Fool's Journey, you start it with a day of doing, saying and thinking the exact opposite...
When you are afraid of doing something, you should do just that.
When your inner voice tells you you are worthless, tell it it's wrong, you are very valuable and worthy, as there is not one other being on the whole universe like you.
When you notice you are looking down, look up.
If you "always" go right, go left this time.

You are The Fool. You have the right to look the people in their eyes and see them, really SEE them.
You have the right to do foolish and silly things, dare and try, experience and live the life like a child, as if you were seeing everything the first time.

If the stars were visible only once in every 100 years, everyone would gather out to watch the amazing show. Act as if they were visible for only tonight. If it's cloudy, you can repeat the experiment tomorrow, or day after that. It doesn't matter, because they ARE up there, every night. But you might not be around, so don't push until tomorrow what you can do today.
Except if it's boring. If you are not around tomorrow, no-one will care whether your dishes are done and your shoes in perfect order.

Nevertheless, these older Fools remind me of the Wild Man or Woodwose or the full-body Green Man, Jack-in-the-Green

and funnily enough... we are back where we started. You see, Green Man is usually accompanied by Sheela-na-gig... They are not especially connected, just themes used back at the time the first churches were being built, but they do accompany each other quite often.

Some influence for this post:
Origins of April's Fools' Day
The Pagan Origins of Jesus and Christianity; The Fish, Jupiter and the Zodiac 
The Mermaid
Female Tricksters 
Trickster Women
The Trickster: A God's Evolution
Kosmos Idikos: Crystal Japan
The Sheela Na Gig Project


Ideas on how to decorate for Beltane:

I found this: tis the season to set the table, and I have to say it doesn't look at all like Christmas to me. It looks like a spring table setting.
Here's how to make a cone topiary with flowers, here's a ball topiary made with silk ribbon and vintage flowers (both ribbon and white flowers belong to Beltane), and here's a rose topiary with fabric flowers.
Here's how to make royal icing snowflakes, but for Beltane you'd naturally make flowers.
Good Housekeeping tells how to make those flowers for wine glasses. (It's picture #9)

Some simple flower forms you can try to make with royal icing

You can also use them to make sun catchers.