Airs of May

Today is May Day, but April apparently didn't get the message that its showers are supposed to be gone.  After a truly glorious week, with temperatures making us believe that we were in July rather than April, we are now back to April weather.   Still, all the green plants have had major growth spurts and May flies have been dropping like ... er, flies.

In many countries, 1 May is celebrated as International Workers' Day and is also a public holiday.  In Europe, it is also related to ancient Celtic celebrations that were often merged into Christian or other holidays, so many of the pagan traditions and festivities have been incorporated and are practiced even today.  A dear friend and former colleague, Sweet I, recently forwarded photos of the raising of the May Pole that precedes the celebrations held at five-year intervals in her Bavarian village of some 500 souls.  These photos date from 2005.

That is one B-I-I-I-G May Pole!  Humongous could be considered an understatement.

And yes, they really do dress that way for local festivals.  It isn't done just for tourists.

This will be the first such May Day celebration for her small daughters, Princess L and Princess E, who were not even born in 2005.  As it happens, her Princess L is exactly three months younger than my own Princess Butterfly.  Here Princess L demonstrates her riding prowess on the family farm in Bavaria.  

Sweet I's May Day pictures reminded me of some photos I took during a brief trip to Bavaria in early summer 2005 with Healer Sis and Sweet L.  While travelling from one tourist site to another, we literally happened upon a local folk dance festival.  Wondering what was happening, we stopped and followed people dressed in dance costume to a large but ancient hall where various groups were performing.

While we were clearly outsiders, the only "tourists" there, and clearly quite underdressed for the event, we were quite warmly welcomed into the hall, had some bratwurst and beer with everyone, and spent some very pleasant time there before continuing to our destination.  It was great fun, all the more so for being completely spontaneous and unexpected.  We were literally enchanted by the intricate braiding in the hair of the women and young girls, as can be seen here.

and here.

Even the children were dressed in costume.

Here is Sweet L, either bemused or still jet-lagged (quite likely - it was only about her third day on this side of The Pond), standing next to a stalwart young man.

When I was young, we used to make May baskets out of construction paper, fill them with sweets, hang them over doorknobs anonymously, and then run like heck, after knocking on the door or ringing the doorbell.  To make the basket shown below, see here.

Whatever you do today, please have a very Happy May Day!