Creating Circles and Ceremonies: Rituals for All ... - reading...

206 Creating Circles & Ceremonies
May Queen, and other players as Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and Jack-in-the-Green. Morris
Dancers bedecked with bells in traditional dress also performed on May Day.
May Day was not openly celebrated during the Puritans’ ascendancy in the 17th century.
After the Stuart kings returned in 1661, a cedar Maypole of 134 feet was erected with
much celebration in London, and remained there for over 50 years.
Maypoles eventually found their way to the New World, though the power of the Puritans
in the northern colonies put a chill on such festivities. In a later century, Nathaniel
Hawthorne was inspired to write his short story, “The May Pole of Merry-Mount,” which is
based on a historical clash between easy-going Anglican colonist Thomas Morton and Puritan
leader John Endecott at Plymouth colony on May 1, 1627.
Many superstitions related to May Day carried over from Britain to America. Here are a
few drawn from The Folklore of American Holidays:
• If a handkerchief has been left outside overnight before the first day of May, the next
morning the initials of your future mate will be written on the handkerchief.
• If you walk around a wheat field on the first day of May, you will meet your mate.
• On May 1 look for birds’ nests. The number of eggs you find will be the number of years
you will be single.
• You must go fishing on May Day. The fish will bite an almost-bare hook.
• Move your bees on the first of May.
• The first day of May is the time to go barefoot.
Another often-cited custom is for ladies to wash their faces in dew gathered from May
Day morning to make themselves more beautiful.
As times changed so did how the 1st of May is celebrated. In some countries May Day
has taken on a political aspect, especially in areas with strong socialist influences. These
countries use the day as an opportunity to showcase their industrial and political power. And
yet the rise of modern Paganism in the United States and abroad has brought a
resurgence of traditional ritual reminiscent of the ancient Celts and Romans.
T he May Royalty
By Oberon
There are many different aspects to what we call the “gods” and “goddesses.”
Some, such as Mother Nature and Father Time, are truly cosmic. Others,
such as Mother Earth and Father Sun, are more finite, with material bodies to house
their ethereal souls. Some, such as Pan, Eros, Yemaya, and the Green Man, are actually
forces and powers of Nature. Still others, such as most of the familiar pantheons of Egypt,
Greece, Ireland, Scandinavia, etc., are closely linked to the human community and embody
aspects of human nature more than those of Nature Herself. There are deities that are totemic,
such as coyote, eagle, and bear; these are the collective souls of particular species. Then there
are the humble nymphs, sprites, naiads, dryads, fauns, Fairies, and other spirits of place.
Each of these deities, at whatever level, may have avatars—living human representatives
who carry their energy and who manifest their spirits incarnate (“in flesh”), for however long
they can hold it. In the Afro-Caribbean traditions, possession by the Loa or Orishas is carefully
confined to the brief period of the all-night ritual. When we “call down the moon” and evoke the
presence of the God or Goddess to attend our rites in the person of our priest or priestess, we
always release them at the end when the Circle is opened. Being a vessel for divine energy is
extremely hard on mortal flesh— notoriously so for males. Jim Morrison was a vessel for Dionysos,
God of Intoxication; and Gwydion Pendderwen carried the energy of the Green Man. Neither of
them knew how to let go at the right time and they were both consumed to death by the divine fire.
In the HOME Tradition, our Queen and King of the May are essentially avatars of the