The month of May was come, when every lusty heart beginneth to blossom, and to bring forth fruit; for like as herbs and trees bring forth fruit and flourish in May, in likewise every lusty heart that is in any manner a lover, springeth and flourisheth in lusty deeds. For it giveth unto all lovers courage, that lusty month of May. – Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur
Regular readers are by now tired of my repetition of the fact that many Christian festivals were adopted from pagan ones; I mentioned it most recently just last week in my Easter column. Unfortunately, the proximity of May Day to Easter, not to mention the similarity of their symbolism (new life and fertility), has caused the former holiday to largely be absorbed by the latter. And though secularized pagan customs continued until quite recently, in the past century those old customs were largely paved over by wholly artificial political constructs which have absolutely nothing to do with the old ways, and outside of the pagan world only a few pale remnants of May Day still exist in Roman Catholic observances.
The best-known practice of May Day celebrations was of course dancing around the Maypole; these markers were originally either phallic symbols or tree-symbols, depending upon which authority one believes. In either case, the dance was originally a public fertility ritual which survived into Christian times (though largely shorn of its fertility associations in the public mind). After the Reformation they were often considered evidence of “idolatry” and heathenism (which, to be fair, they were) and were banned in many Protestant jurisdictions. Maypole ceremonies never caught on widely in the United States, though they did sometimes pop up in school celebrations from time to time and still do, though much more rarely since the 1950s.
Another important May Day festival was the election of a May Queen, a (presumably) virgin of about 13 or 14 who wore a white gown and a crown of flowers and presided over May Day festivities as a representative of the maiden goddess about to marry. Like the Maypole, the May Queen ritual survived into Christian times as a secular celebration and can be considered the ancestor of the many “festival queen” traditions practiced in the United States (though the girls in those pageants are generally about three years older). It also inspired the tradition (originating in 16th-century Italy) of celebrating the Blessed Mother as “Queen of the May”; as I’ve mentioned before much of the mythology surrounding Mary, mother of Jesus was transferred from older mother-goddesses, so it was only natural that she should be recognized as the “May Queen” as well. When I was a child we held a ceremony every school day in May in which we crowned a statue of Mary with a crown made from fresh flowers (every child had her turn) and sang a song:
O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today,
Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May.
O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today,
Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May!
Those who were not raised Catholic (or who were born too long after Vatican II) may find this shockingly pagan, and indeed my enthusiasm for the ceremony (and Marianism in general) was clearly (in retrospect, at least) the first sign of my turn toward paganism.
The international distress call “Mayday” has nothing to do with the holiday; it is merely a phonetic rendering of the French “m’aidez!”, meaning “help me!” But when one mentions “May Day” now the average (international) listener who doesn’t think of the distress call will probably think of “International Workers’ Day”, a labor-movement observance held on the anniversary of the 1886 worldwide protest in support of the movement’s demand for the eight-hour workday to become a standard. In Chicago this strike endured for four days and culminated in a riot in which twelve people were killed, leading to the later hanging of four anarchists who were convicted of throwing a bomb in response to police gunning down several protesters. The anarchists were of course then held up as martyrs by activists, and the new May Day – lacking any connection whatsoever to the traditional holiday – was thus unceremoniously plopped down on May 1st (despite the fact that the riot took place on May 4th), especially in communist countries.
But for pagans May Day is still Beltane, so as usual here’s my witch friend JustStarshine with an explanation of the spiritual significance of the day:
“O do not tell the priest of our art,
For he would call it sin
But we will be in the woods all night
A-conjuring summer in.
And I give you good news by word of mouth
For women, cattle and corn,
For the summer is coming up from the south
With oak and ash and thorn.”
The old verse aptly sums up this sabbat , which is traditionally concerned with sex and fertility magic.
Beltane is celebrated on May Eve and, ideally, through into Mayday itself, although in modern times this is not always possible. In the past it was said that village maidens who went into the woods on this night to gather May blossom did not come out that way in the morning. It’s more than probable that “gathering May blossom” was a cover for taking part in the ritual where, at some point, there was a cry of “mix it up” which all attending the ritual would do with enthusiasm and continue until dawn.
“Beltane” is derived from a Gaelic word meaning “bright fire” and bonfires have always featured very strongly in this ritual. In Ireland in past times cattle were driven between the flames of two fires to rid their hides of the parasites which had settled there during the winter months. To jump the fire was to take the flame of light, life and sun into oneself and women would leap to attain a husband or to ensure a safe birth. Even today couples who want to conceive will leap the Beltane fire.
For witches this is the time of the “marriage” of the God and the Goddess, mirrored in the past by a “greenwood marriage”, gypsy fashion, over the bonfire.
Today the ritual of this sabbat still has a strong sexual and fertility feel but because of modern inhibitions and the lack of secluded places free from prying eyes usually lacks the spontaneity and abandon of past rituals.
My Beltane prayer is for all my readers, no matter what your beliefs, to enjoy the blessing of a happy and fulfilling sex life. Blessed Be!
I must admit I am somewhat disappointed, but not surprised at your paganism. It is a fashionable posture these days, to be acquainted with crystals, incense and so on, especially amongst women. I’m surprised because you seemed thorough and rigorous in your analysis of whatever it is you’re writing about. The paganism…is well…typical. It is a way of telegraphing to the world that you are more spiritual than others which is, of course, nonsense. Please don’t tell me you have a tattoo of a rose on your ankle.
My cute friend (Middle Sister) has a rose tattooed on her ankle. She’s a plain old Protestant. She kind of likes hearing my nutmeg story, though I think it flips her out a bit, too. And it wasn’t even all that intense. She laughs every time she hears me say “Cutey Honey” or “Kodomo no Jikan.”
Sorry, Tim, but you’re barking up the wrong tree. I’ve been pagan since my late teens, long before it was “fashionable”, and I don’t own a single crystal except for the star sapphire in my engagement ring and a geode a friend gave me almost three decades ago. I don’t “telegraph” anything to anyone, and only write about it here because it’s my blog. Nor do I pretend to be more spiritual than others, and frankly I find that accusation rather patronizing; is a sincerely-held atheism “telegraphing to the world” that one is “more rational” than others? Rigorous analysis does NOT preclude spiritual beliefs; at least, Einstein didn’t think so, and I’m sure you’ll forgive me if I accept his opinion over the currently-fashionable (among intellectuals) atheistic one.
Certainly there are people who “use” religions (or lack thereof) in the way you describe, but I’m not one of them and I’m a bit disappointed that you think me so insincere and shallow. Well, you’re new to the site yet; eventually you’ll find that I don’t follow fashions and never have. And that includes the tattoo-fad; no, I don’t have any, of roses or anything else. 😉
It looks like I over-reacted. I’ve been single a few years now and let me just say that out here on the west coast, it seems every woman I meet has a “deep connection with the earth”. It can get a little tiresome. Sorry if I seemed bellicose.
I understand, Tim. I personally find people who alter their “beliefs” to the latest fad – spiritual, political, sexual or whatever – to be extremely tiresome, so I can see where you’re coming from. 🙂
Some day the belief that teen sex is an inherently good thing is going to become fashionable among oldsters, and I’m going to have to constantly point out that I was country when country wasn’t cool, as it were.
OT.
happy May Day Maggie!!! I hope you had a good may day party. I did. Lovely evening and a relaxing day today!
Thought you might have an interest.
Have you seen this one?
Yep. Last item at the bottom.
Hi Maggie,
On topic….my May Days for the last three years have become something of a ‘re-birth’.
In April 2008 I spent the month suicidal due to the process of dis-owning my former children. One thing I find very amusing about this time is that women say ‘so a woman betrayed you, get over it’. To which I respond.
“I did. I disowned my former children, have nothing to do with them, refused to pay one cent in alimony or child support and date the hottest women I can find and have a life that I love which is FAR better than it used to be.”
This, of course, just gets me more hatred from these very same women who say I should ‘get over it’ but don’t think I should stop paying for ‘the wife and children’! LOL!!
Anyway. On May Day 2008 I invited this woman who had been kind to me in my suicidal April to a may day party. There are plenty in Germany. Her comments at the party (published in the book) gave me my first ‘future thought’ in a month. She went on to become my fav#1 and we dated for 2.5 years. The next May day she was not available as she was running a marathon that weekend. (Who runs a marathon for a may day celebration??!!! My fav#1. That’s who.).
So I went to a may day party without her. And who should I meet? But the woman who would go on to be my fav #4 7 months later when my fav#1 stood me up. That was my May Day 2009. I discovered the woman whom I would easily rate the most likely woman I have ever met. A good day!!
On May day 2010 I invited my (by then) Fav#4 to the best hotel in Frankfurt. We were only going to spend one night but we spent three instead. It was one of the loveliest weekends of my life. We had a fabulous time spending time in the gym, pool, sauna, spa, drinks, dinner as well as in our room. She called it ‘the best weekend of my life so far’. It was not my best ever but it was RIGHT up there.
This weekend? Both my fav#1/4 have moved on. They want a man-slave. I am not it. But no matter. I met a potential fav#5 last October at an Octoberfest party and we have been keeping in touch. So we went out to a may day party. I do believe I have found fav#5.
I hope my May days continue to be this kind to me for years to come. The last 4 have been really great days. This war between men and women in the west is such a joke because eastern women are moving in on the men in their millions. I just keep meeting eastern woman after woman who is really lovely to be with. I had two favs who were short lived. But that I have ‘struck gold’ with three favs in three years? I never knew it could be this good.
I wish all your readers May Days as good as I have had these last 4 years!!!
I have some very bad associations with Beltane, so I’ve been a bit twitchy the last few days.
I can see some of where Tim is coming from, the whole goddess worship has become rather tedious. Fortunately, there are a lot of pagans and heathens out there who haven’t bought into the whole feminist ideal of women are good and men are bad. The pagan group that the UU church I attend is a bit more balanced with worshipping the Lord and Lady, but still heavily dominiated by women. Other than that, I do know few Asatru and they are quite a distance from feminism, both genders play strong roles, but they are not the same.
I’m a part time seminary student with sksm.edu and I’m waiting for Cherry Hill Seminary to receive accredidation, so I’m starting to study these sorts of things much more deeply and trying to understand much of the undelying human nature that has led us to where we are.
OMG..have you seen these Maggie?
http://www.sexygpsshoes.com/
For ‘safety’ of sex workers? Duh…no woman could run away from a snail in these things.
I’m an agnostic. I’ve known a number of Pagans who were good and decent people (my sister-in-law, for one) and a number who were serious wastes of air. It is always important to distinguish between genuine Pagans and adherents of the New Age Religion Of The Month Club (who are, severally and collectively, tiresome twits).
As an armchair Historian I do make the following observations:
1) The current Goddess based Paganism is largely a modern construct, having been made up by multiple sources circa 1972 or thereabouts. This doesn’t invalidate it.
2) Protestant Christianity, in spite of all its flaws, produced the first culture in history to have an anti-slavery movement (as opposed to slave rebellions, which are different), to pay more than lip service to the rights of ethnic and social minorities, to pay more than lip service to equality between the sexes. Catholic countries tend to have peasantries. Buddhism sounds swell, but seems to result in societies that treat people like farm animals. And don’t even get me started on the atheistical empires of the 20th century. Yikes!
3) Modern Paganism has not yet been tested this way, but perhaps modern Pagans would do well to examine the history of other religions and try to learn from them. And don’t be too hasty to throw out everything connected with Protestantism.
I tend to think that anti-slavery movements were more tied to technology than to religion, but oh well.
Societies that have a mix of Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, Atheists, and yeah even Pagans (and anybody I left out); those societies will have subcultures that can fill in for each other. Something no Catholic or Protestant would think of will be offered by the local Hindu, and something NONE of them would think of will be generated in a discussion between a Muslim, an Atheist, and a Pagan.
The connection between Protestant dominated societies and the factors I named may be coincidental, but they coincide a lot. I don’t know what it is about Protestantism. I don’t think anybody does. I am, therefore, a little hesitant to undermine what appears to be a significant factor in the spread of decent behavior, especially when the most vocal underminers are also cheerleaders for the Collectivist Barbarism that plagued the 20th century.
The three most prolific political mass murderers in history were two Communists and a Socialist. The records of other collectivist societies are mostly pretty dismal too.
As I said, I’m an agnostic. But until somebody comes up with a society that ISN’T protestant at base and treats people pretty decently, I won’t join in the “Let’s rag on the Christers” bandwagon.
Japan looks better than a lot of others, but they still require internal passports of the descendants of Koreans brought in as slave labor during WWII, they still have the Barakumin (sp?) outcaste. They are very polite bigots, but they are still bigots.
Dear CSP, it’s WONDERFUL to read this! Where it’s not the same old ###*** about Protestants: they’re all full of hate; they love persecuting anyone not like them; they’re anti-intellectual and don’t bother to check out their beliefs, etc., etc. I could go on and on, unfortunately, and did a while back on here with a big list of the ###*** stereotypes and blanket statements that I applied to me to make a point using sarcasm. There’s at least a few that this stuff doesn’t apply to at all. I say give credit where it’s due. There’s also at least a few who are disgusted and upset by how many fake preachers there are and how many are teaching lies. It’s the worst I’ve seen it since I started following this stuff. I’m not alone in this. But, what’s great is many are actively working for reform and to expose the fake preachers.
I don’t think it’s accidental that most of those who attack Protestant Christianity are the same Western Intellectual Twits who have been going all Radical Chic over every Communist Revolutionary swine to come bouncing down the pike. Clearly if they had an common sense or taste they wouldn’t be getting all gushy over demented mass murderers like Mao, Pol Pot, and Che.
Not that Protestantism is perfect, or devoid of swine (Can you say Fred Phelps? OK, can you say Fred Phelps without vomiting Day Glow?). But as the folks who have played cheerleader to the murder (not war deaths, MURDER) of 100,000,000 people in the twentieth century (the death toll of communism), possibly the Progressive Intellectual Twits should SHUT IT DOWN.
So ignore the several hundred ‘Progressive Intellectual Twits’ who are neither really progressive nor intellectual. There are thousands of others advocating atheism without entering any sort of reality denial field – Dawkins, Shermer … and if somehow those are too ivory tower for you, not numerous enough and not getting into enough direct arguments, then there’s Penn & Teller… and if you think it’s just celebrities, check out Thunderf00t’s youtube channel, and read the comments. These people are not of the reality-impaired sort in any dimension, are not communists, and certainly not mass murder apologists. Then you get the objectivists…
Atheism is not monolithic. It’s slightly less diverse than theism, in that you’ve removed one category of elements from the space of world views. The distinction in worldview which enables mass-murder is completely separate from the distinction of atheism or not. In general, to get to mass murder, you need an ideology to be supreme over individuality. Communism is an ideology, and it tries to be supreme, and its modern forms happen to be atheistic. Humanism and Transhumanism are the reverse, and they’re totally compatible with atheism (though hardly restricted to it).
PS: Nazis used the name ‘socialist’ to gain power, but once they had it, they sent the socialists to the concentration camps. And the atheists.
Protestanism “success” is the fact that it is weak. Politically that is. The main point of protestanism is that noone needs an inteceeding athority to communicate with god.
If man no longer neccisarily needs the church and can read the bible on their own and make their own decisions as to what is means, as opposed to being told what it means by a preist, well then churches no longer have the power the once had.
I know many here would argue that the still have more political power then any of us are comfortable with, but I doubt will ever see a church with the power to divide or resolve disputes between empires.
Protesantism broke catholocisms stranglehold on contenentail politics, problem was by its very nature it could never become a majority power itself – with everyone thinking forthemselves with out threat of torture and death we now have over 3000 versions of chritianity, each with their own beilfs and dogma.
Protesantisms deviciveness destroyed the practical application of widespread
athoritarian “moral” athority
I think you’ve got it. The Baptists and Pentecostals and Lutherans and and and will never agree enough to hold a religious monopoly together, and none will ever squeeze out all the others to hold one all by its lonesome.
The churches can bitch about evolution and homosexuality, and may even muck about in the schools some, but they won’t ever be able to put anybody to death, for anything.
Protestantism’s success as an idea-generating society is its utter failure as an authoritarian ruling elite. Except that this now applies to Catholics too, since they’re now just another denomination.
There is some truth in your theory, but it doesn’t take into account the existence of local Official Churches during periods when travel was a great deal more difficult than it is now. The history of Anglicanism and the Dissenters of the 18th Century might interest you in that regard.
One of the ideas that I have run into, but lack the formal education to do more than play with, is that by questioning the positions of the Catholic Church a great many Protestant splinters were more open to Jewish ideas, and one can see this in the rise of the notion of the Rule of Law (which is quite different from Lawr ‘n Owda, the Rule of Law is the idea that the Law applies to everybody, even the Head of State). This in turn stems from the Jewish propensity to shake a finger in the face of God and say “Hold on, you can’t do that, we have a contract!”
I love that about the Jews. Anybody who is prepared to back-talk to their God can’t be all bad.
This in turn stems from the Jewish propensity to shake a finger in the face of God and say “Hold on, you can’t do that, we have a contract!”
must… resist…
must… not… make… manga reference…
must… not… My B… no! must resist…
Oh, go ahead.
OK, but you asked for it.
That’s right ladies and gentlemen: I’m going to talk about My Balls. The premise is that Hell is ready to destroy Humanity and take over the Earth, and it all comes down to whether or not a nice guy who always seems to finish last can resist cumming for a month (despite a bunch hot babe demons trying to coax one out of him). So why doesn’t God just take care of the situation? Well, it seems He can’t; there’s a contract.
It’s pretty amazing the amount of thought that went into My Balls. Hasn’t been commercially translated into English, though. You’ll have to find a fan translation online if you want to look at My Balls.
Oh! and prostitution does show up, in the form of a soapland. How can Kohta resist that?
A big reason I’m a Protestant is because of Martin Luther’s speaking against NON-separation of church and state. What’s wonderful is there’s at least 1 group of preachers against it also. The Christians that have said to me “we need non-separation of church and state” I tell them about Luther and all the HELLS that non-separation caused for many in what you and I call “the good old days”. I got through to my friend Daniel on this, thank God! You met him and liked him and he’s the 1 you talked to about Dungeons and Dragons.
A Christian man who likes Dungeons & Dragons breaks stereotype right there, and a black man who likes D&D also breaks stereotype. Daniel was a living breathing example of the fact that stereotypes are not a reliable predictor of individuals.
I’ve always been quietly fascinated by the Hindu gods Kali (representing feminine black energy) and Shiva (masculine white matter) who, by their union, represent the dynamic universe.
The Hindu cosmological origin story seems to indicate that the current cycle of the Universe is about 13.4 billion (10^9) years old, which compares favourably to the popular astronomical estimate of 13.7 billion.
Maybe the Hindus are onto something…
Kalima shakti de! 😊
Interesting topic! I have mixed feelings about Paganism. On the one hand I have an aversion to all primitive mysticism, and from what I know about modern Scientology it’s no better. But on the other hand I’m definitely girl-crazy, so I might actually be a goddess-worshiper and not even be aware of it.
A song for Beltane.
I couldn’t find a video for it. 🙁
Thanks. I don’t know any Beltain songs, and I’ll you all the cute J-pop… for now. 😉
I’ll spare you all the …
For a Beltane song, I suggest “Queen of the May”, by Inkubus Sukkubus. For that matter, I suggest almost ANYTHING by Inkubus Sukkubus. 🙂
Literary post.
Among my favorite anywhere.
You’re a very literate, erudite and pleasantly loquacious whore.
I mean, ex-whore.
But the other stuff still applies.
Thank you, Gorb! I’m still a whore, but I only have one long-term customer now. 😉
May festivities have long fascinated me.
Speaking of one long-term customer,
My little mistress “Mina” and I had dinner a week or so back; lunch as well. In fact, this struck me:
The man marrying her doesn’t even bother checking up on her, despite that fact that he’s in Australia at the moment. His trust in her is implicit. Or something. So some whores are trustworthy.
A few years on, she’s still hot. She’s going to age well.
She’s bright and cheerful and outrageously fun to spend time with.
You know, as whores go, or ex-whores (I presume – I didn’t ask, as it’s neither my business nor relevant), it passed through my mind that I could have done worse than to have held on to her (though that would have entailed me not whoring my way around Asia myself. Though maybe not – you never know).
One of the nicest people I’ve ever met.
When you get right down to it, it’s people that count. And the companionship they provide.
Mina is a gem not because she has a finely sculpted ass.
She’s a gem because she’s a genuinely interesting and charming person.
I mentioned this blog, and the fact that this sort of thing is more open in the West; she said that she’s pretty open about it, and she CAN be, given that she has no intention of marrying a Korean and she’s pretty enough that she doesn’t need to give a shit what other people think: If Only They Could Have Done What She Did, in her opinion.
She’s also humble and as a good Buddhist, thinks that we all go through trials and make choices and she regrets none of hers.
Though – I did mention that she was one of the few people in Korea I’d actually come here to see (and not fuck).
She quietly admitted that I was the only other man other than her beau who had touched her. And part of it was that I respected her as a human being before anything else. And that, she knew, despite my rather strong prejudices.
I mentioned part of this story to a female friend (ahem) I’m staying with here. She was the one lover I did end up keeping, I’m guessing – bizarre story. Anyway, she reacted instantly and negatively at the merest suggestion that I’d ever associate with such a person.
It saddens me.
i can’t speak about Mina the Whore, but —
Mina the person deserves much better.
The world really isn’t fair.
(BTW, her man is very “alpha” – a bit of a jock, runs an export company he built from the ground up, spent time in the Australian army, I think he exports building materials or something hence his contact with Mina in Korea; tough bastard. Couldn’t care less what Mina did before they met. Trusts her. I get the impression that she’d rather slit her own throat than give him any question for pause.
When I was a little girl, my sister and I used to gather flowers from all the neighbor’s yards and make posies; we’d then ring random doorbells and drop the little bouquets before running away. Does this happen anymore? I never see children in my neighborhood celebrating May Day this way.
How sweet! Of course, modern adults would collapse of apoplexy, foaming at the mouth about “stranger danger”, if they caught their kids doing this now.
Oh gods above, below and all around !!! The more time I spend perusing the internet, the more firmly I believe in the inherent similarities of all humans and their behaviours.
The minute I saw the Maypole, I was reminded of the very familiar act of weaving the goph (like ‘golf’ but without the ‘l’ and the ‘o’ as in ‘hope’). But here in India, it’s not exactly a festive ritual, just something we do when we’re celebrating. It’s a bit rare today, but until a couple decades ago you could’ve found women dancing around a pole, braiding together the many multicoloured threads/ ribbons descending from its top, during the Holi, Gokulashtami and Navratri festivals. Some people also do it during the first all-night worship of the Goddess by a new bride (called Mangalagauri) and even during Bhondla when they’re done with all the sweets and the elephant.
Yes, there’s a real elephant 🙂