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Old May Day Traditions

4/30/2014

Villagers & Morris-men dancing beside the Maypole, Ickwell, Bedfordshire, UK; Dawn on 1st May 2005. Photo: R. Sheppard via Wiki Commons.

From ancient times, the Western world has celebrated spring with a festival at the end of April and starting into May. The Romans called it the Floralia because Flora was the goddess of flowers and as you'll notice, things these days are starting to bloom!

In German regions, it's known as Walpurgis Night, but to the Celtic peoples of Ireland and the British Isles called their celebration Beltane. It ran from April 30 to May 1 or even extending to May 3rd or so, though they based it on astrological movements in the heavens, not on the calendar. (They waited for the sun to enter Taurus.)

Beltane is the spring fire festival and you can think of it is as the opposite in feeling from Halloween (which these ancient peoples also started in the form of Samhain). If Samhain was dark and scary and oriented toward death and the approaching winter, Beltane was colorful and flirty, all about joy and life and ensuring the fertility of crops, livestock, and human families, too.

Of course, in the most ancient of pagan times, there was also a little human sacrifice involved in Beltane celebrations--! Probably not so joyful for that guy, whoever got chosen to end up getting burned on the Beltane fires. Over time, thankfully, the human sacrifice died out (ha, ha, pun intended) and morphed into smaller-scale brushes with the "sacred fire."

For example, it was considered good luck to jump over the Beltane bonfire if it was small enough. Or they would build two fires and the daredevils wanting good luck would have to run between them. In other regions, they contented themselves with simply baking a bannock cake over the "lucky" fire and that way, they could consume the good luck. Not all places celebrated the same way.

However, if there is one enduring symbol of May Day, it is the charming sight of people dancing around the May pole. Below you'll find a video from an elementary school in England where the little girls from the school demonstrate dancing around the May pole. The video is a little long but if you scroll ahead you'll enjoy, I think, seeing the parents and the rest of the community join in this merry, ancient tradition. It's really pretty adorable.

Below that, if you're wondering what the boys were doing on May Day while the girls were dancing around the May pole, it's called Morris dancing! (Nowadays, Morris dancing is for both genders, but originally it was a war- or sword-themed dance for men.) I love seeing modern people committed to ancient traditions handed down to them from centuries worth of their ancestors! Happy Beltane ~ and Enjoy! ~ G.

Morris Dancing in Victorian times... (Don't forget, May 1 is Jake's birthday! Our buddy is turning 13, as you'll see in the next installment of the Gryphon Chronicles...)

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On Pixies

4/22/2014

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Careful walking in the forest...

From The Dark Portal, Ch. 16: Pixie Mischief

"Attack!"

Suddenly, Jake and Dani were under siege as the pixies rained down acorns on them like cannonballs and started shooting their bows at them with splinter-sized arrows.

"Ow! Ow!" Jake and Dani said.

"Release Whortleberry! Put him down, you oversized oafs!"

More pixies joined the fray. They swung down off the branch above by bits of twine and landed on their heads and shoulders, where they proceeded to beat them and pull their hair...

On the Wee Folk of the Forest

The pixies are one of the diminutive species of fairies. There is great variety among their kind depending on the region, where they may be known as pixies, piskies, or pigsies. Some are winged and some are not. Unlike fairies, most pixies do not create a sparkle-trail whilst traveling. While the fairies are ethereal, airy creatures, the pixies are far more earthy. They make their clothes from objects found in nature such as leaves and moss, and in fact, even name their young after herbs and wildflowers.

Whether winged or not, all varieties of pixie stand about five inches tall when full grown, and possess pointy ears and often, pointy noses.

The character of the pixies is their greatest commonality. They are well known as mischievous pranksters, adventurous and rascally. They are capable of great ingenuity in making contraptions, such as traps, that will make their lives easier, for pixies certainly prefer not to work if it can be avoided.

For example, they would much rather take up residence in an abandoned bird's nest than build a home of their own. They find abandoned hornet's nests particularly spacious and cozy. They do prefer to live in the trees, but have been known to burrow underground to get through an especially harsh winter.

Their aversion to labor has led to them becoming nimble thieves. They will steal eggs out of birds' nests for their breakfast and happily torment travelers in their woods until they are given some bread. Once the toll of some food has been paid, pixies will allow travelers safe passage, for they are not malevolent beings. While it's true they do mislead travelers for fun or to get some food, they can be quite helpful to their human favorites.

A UK postage stamp of the 1890's from the Royalmail.com.

PIXIES AT PLAY. Photo credit John D. Batten - More English Fairy Tales, Jacobs, J., New York: G. P. Putnam's sons; London: D Nutt Copy scan by nicole-Deyo, a trusted source, from copy held by New York Public Lib., via wikipedia commons.

Photo credit John Bauer - Illustration of Alfred Smedberg's The seven wishes in Julbocken, 1907 via wikipedia commons.

The Owl...a pixie's greatest fear (pixabay.com)

Pixies from "Snow White & the Huntsman" movie. This breed of pixies apparently does not believe in clothes.

Local bands of pixies "elect" tribal chieftains who tend to style themselves as kings (like King Furze and Queen Meadowfoil, whom Jake met in Wales). In reality, however, these local "kings" never rule over more than a few hundred of their kind, if anarchists like pixies can be said to accept "rule" of any kind. King Furze and his ilk still must answer to Oberon, however, the real king of all the fey folk.

Clearly the blue Cornish pixies are not just a winged variety, but particularly naughty. Or maybe they just didn't like being put into that cage. I imagine there are lots of parents and teachers who would also like to learn the Immobilis spell...

... Smushed together in the trap, Jake and Dani gripped the ropes of the net that now held them, and neither stopped screaming until they reached the top of the giant oak tree.

Jake's heart was pounding, and he could hear Dani practically hyperventilating beside him. "Jake," she squeaked, "what just happened?"

"You're good and caught, that's what," a small but authoritative voice said. "They don't look like tree goblins to me. Captain Coltsfoot? Explain."

As the trap spun slowly on its main rope, rotating to face the tree trunk, Jake and Dani gasped in amazement to find the pixies' base camp right before their eyes.

Although few pixies take their king's orders any more seriously than they do property rights, they WILL band together with admirable discipline to fend off an attack from any of their natural predators. These include owls, hawks, cats, tree goblins, or any humans who may incur their wrath for a variety of reasons.

In general, though, the pixie is a carefree, larking little fellow, curious and impulsive, whose motto seems to be: "Enjoy Life." A lesson we all could learn! :)

Photo credit John Bauer via wikipedia commons.

Photo credit Adrian Ludwig Richter via wikipedia commons.

At an intersection of two main branches, a horde of pixies stood on a ledge-shaped tree fungus, inspecting them with obvious hostility. They were about five inches tall, with pointy ears and pointy noses, rosy cheeks, and outdoorsy complexions. More of them kept hopping out of their papery, round shelter - an abandoned hornets' nest - to see what was going on.

The tiny robed king with an intricately carved walnut shell for a crown turned to his captain of the guard, awaiting an answer.

"Your Majesty," Captain Coltsfoot said, stepping forward. "They kidnapped Whortleberry, sir."

Tree-fungus (pixabay.com)

Behind-the-Scenes: A tree-fungus like this in the woods where we like to go walking inspired this whole scene! Not very good for the tree, but it just looked like a place where pixies would live.

To find out what happens next, read The Dark Portal!

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April is National Poetry Month

4/7/2014

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Photo credit victor estrada diaz via wikipedia commons.

Hi Guys! Gael here. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but poetry was my first love as a writer, long before I started writing fiction. I took some playwriting courses too while earning my Literature degree, but fiction was where I ultimately ended up. (All three are very, very different and take different skill sets, of course.) In any case, I no longer write poems, but I still love all kinds of poetry, and since April is National Poetry Month, I picked a few to share with my blog visitors, ones that I especially think kids will enjoy.

If poetry frightens you, here's my opinion on the matter. The trick to enjoying a poem is not to overanalyze it. Parsing a poem to try to "get the meaning out of it" is a little like dissecting a butterfly to figure out how it can fly. You kill the thing.

A poem is not a linear experience for the most part. There's a wholeness to a great poem that tickles your brain and moves your heart at the same time. Here's a great example by e.e. cummings . Feel his delight in the language! And notice how "the children" are the only ones who understand that a devoted love story is happening between the characters, "no one" and "anyone" - who could be anybody! It's universal like that. Just don't overthink it. (Reproduced here courtesy of poets.org with the original punctuation - or lack thereof!) Enjoy!

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did

Women and men (both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn't they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed (but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone's any was all to her

someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then) they
said their nevers they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)

one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain

Here's another great poem for kids and kids-at-heart. Again, the delight in the language - not needing words with clear definitions to express the story and emotions. Look at how much he expresses his meaning merely through the rhythm. And - Bonus! You can make up your own definition for what exactly a Bandersnatch might be. I hope I never meet one in a dark alley. ;)

Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand;
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

As recited by the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) in Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," 2010

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