Lilacs are one of May’s flowers and irises, peonies, and poppies will soon follow.
The month of May announces that summer is on its way. The flowers are glorious and proud as they blow in the warm breezes. However, I need to show what my last April surprise was.
Deer ate all the tulips in my front yard. There were almost 150. This is the first year they enjoyed a tulip buffet. I’m used to them eating my lilies but this was a shock.
These tulips are in the back of the house and were not bothered. Deer did leave me their calling card of poop though.
May Day was yesterday so April surprises are now in the past. I remember delivering May baskets of flowers to neighbors as a little girl and even dancing around a maypole one year. The maypole was a tradition in both England and Germany. The ancient Romans celebrated the flower goddess Flora and the goddess Maia on May 1. I can’t imagine keeping track of all these different gods and goddesses and all the celebrations. This was a fertility celebration for crops and people.
The Puritans did not approve the dancing and drinking that occurred on May Day and we can assume what else occurred, so Parliament banned maypoles in 1644. It didn’t take long for the new king, Charles II, to restore the tradition. Since this was a fertility celebration, many soon changed the tradition of young men and women dancing around the maypole to having children dance instead. I wonder if that solved the problem.
Wishing you all a happy May and I hope you are blessed with blooming flowers. And…a little dancing is good for the body and the soul!
Jeanne Lemmon Skinner 