FACTS ABOUT THE MONTH OF MAY

                                          Gemstone: Emerald.

                                         Flower: Lilly of the Valley.

May is named after the Greek goddess, Maia. May is a time of celebrations. It is the time when flowers emerge and crops begin to sprout.

The Anglo-Saxon name for May was Tri-Milchi because this was when lush new grass began to grow in the meadows and it meant that the cows could now be milked three times a day. Before 1430 May was called Maius, Mayes or Mai, it is only since then we began to call it May.

The flower of the month ( Lilly of the Valley ) also known as our Lady’s tears because according to Christian legend it first sprang up as a result of the tears from the Virgin Mary as she stood weeping during the crucifixion of Christ and it grows wild in the valley of tears in Baca in Palestine.

May 1st. May Day ( Garland Day ) was when Britain marked the end of the Winter and welcomed the beginning of Summer. For our ancestors mainly in rural areas it was a major festival celebrated throughout the country with music, dancing and games. Traditional May Day celebrations included the dancing around the May Poles, playing with ‘hobby horses’ and characters like ‘Robin Hood’ and ‘Jack in the Green’.

Young children would collect greenery and flowers to make garlands, they would decorate sticks to look like a cross and fix them to a hoop and parade around the village green. In some towns and villages these celebrations still take place. Charlton-on-Otmoor in Oxfordshire is just one of them.

Superstitions.

There is an old saying that if first thing in the morning on May 1st young girls who washed their face in the morning dew would have a beautiful complexion all through the year and this dew was also able to remove your freckles, spots and pimples due to it’s Magic properties.

The month of May was also considered to be an unlucky month particularly for getting married hence the old saying,

‘Marry in May and you’ll rue the day’

Other sayings include.

Being born in May would produce a sickly child.

It was also considered bad luck to buy a broom (sweeping brush) or wash your blankets;

Wash a blanket in May.

Wash a dear one away.

Weather-lore.

“A wet May makes for a big load of hay. A cold May is kindly and fills the barn finely.”

“A swarm of bees inMay

Is worth a load of hay.”

“Mist in May, Heat in June, makes Harvest time come real soon.”

Other Days in May.

Oak Apple Day May 29th also known as Pinch-Bum Day.

On this day traditionally people would wear oak apples or oak leaves pinned to themselves to remember that on this day King Charles 11 returned triumphantly to London after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. The reason for wearing oak leaves or oak apples was to celebrate the King’s

narrow escape from capture by Cromwell’s soldiers by hiding in an oak tree. The name Pinch-Bum Day came about because if you were found not to be wearing either oak leaves or oak apples on this day, you could be pinched, kicked or otherwise abused. In some parts of the country Whipping the guilty persons with nettles was a favorite punishment, hence the name Nettle Day in some places.

King Charles 11 Who Hid In An Oak Tree To
Avoid Capture By Oliver Cromwell.

Notable Dates to Remember.

1st of May-Labour Day.

1st of May- May Day.

5th of May- 1930 Amy Johnson flew solo from England to Australia.

6th of May- Saw the first postage stamp the ‘Penny Black’ come into use, in 1840. Also in 1954 Roger Bannister ran a mile in less than four minutes.

8th of May- 1945 VE Day (Victory in Europe)

9th of May- Captain Blood the famous Pirate tried to steal the crown jewels in 1671.

12th of May- Florence Nightingale was born.

29th of May- In 1953 Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mount Everest.

Also this day is ‘Oak Apple Day.’

30th of May- The deaths of King Arthur in 542 and Joan of Arc burned at the stake in1431.

Dancing Around A May Pole.