Skip to main content

Queen of the May

May is named after the ancient Italic goddess of spring, Maia. She was identified with Terra and Bona Dea by the late antiquarian writer Macrobius. He also associated her with Fauna, Cybele, Ops, Juno, and Carna. This treatment of the goddess was probably influenced by the 1st century BCE scholar Varro, who tended to resolve a great number of deities into one archetypal Mother Earth.

On the first day of May, observed in the lunar calendar with the first appearance of the crescent moon, ancestor spirits were honoured and a pregnant sow was sacrificed to Maia. On the full moon, Maia's son, Mercury, was honoured as patron god of merchants. 

According to Greek mythology, Maia was the eldest of seven sisters, the Pleiades. Hers is the fourth brightest star in the Pleiades cluster, also known as the Maia Nebula, which is part of the constellation Taurus. "Maia of the lively eyes: Atlas fathered her, outstanding in beauty, among his seven dear violet-haired daughters who are called the heavenly Peleiades (flock of doves)." Simonides, Fragment 555 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric III) 6th to 5th century BCE.

In 13th century Britain, the May Queen was a young lady selected to personify the summer.  This may have been a survival of Anglo-Saxon customs. The earliest written record of a Maypole in Britain comes from a Welsh poem written by Gryffydd ap Adda ap Dafydd in the mid-14th century, in which he described how people used a tall birch pole at Llanidloes, central Wales. The Maypole probably derives from the Germanic veneration of sacred trees and wooden pillars which represented the axis mundi or world tree. In medieval Britain, Roodmas was celebrated on the 3rd of May. The word "rood" is Old English for "pole" so Roodmas may be connected to the Maypole.

The first day of May's lunar month (called Beltane by the Goidelic Celts) may be observed on the date of the New Moon, which occurs on the 10th of May this year. You may wish to celebrate the Queen of the May on this night, perhaps by making a wreath of flowers to adorn an image of the goddess on your altar. 





Labels:

Comments

  1. Neopagan Priestess25 April 2013 at 06:34

    We become so accustomed to calendar months, I'd never thought about using the lunar month for a May day celebration, though of course it's done for Easter. Lots of interesting information, thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OathBoundSecrets25 April 2013 at 10:42

      Thank you :) Yes I sometimes feel like the modern calendar is too artificial, and following the moon is more natural. You're welcome :)

      Delete
  2. Anonymous25 April 2013 at 18:09

    I didn't know that about her thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for sharing your thoughts )O(

Popular posts from this blog

The Dorset Ooser

  A massive wooden head with snapping jaw mechanism, real horns and hair. Photo from 1883-1891.  The Dorset Ooser has possible connections to the horned costumes sometimes worn by participants in English Mummers plays. The etymology of Ooser is also disputed, with various possibilities available, but I think it's most likely the same as the Oss, a snapping skull paraded around during midwinter. The pronunciation is very similar, and it's simply a way of saying "horse" without pronouncing the h. These teeth-gnashing heads are also known as 'obby 'oss or hobby horse.  One use of the Dorset Ooser was to strike fear into villagers who were perceived as shameful. Usually the target was an unruly wife who had disobeyed her husband by raising her voice, scolding him, beating him, or cheating on him. A woman who was perceived as a bad wife was forced to ride backwards on a donkey or horse while the angry Ooser snapped his jaw at her and a crowd of villagers beat their...
Post a Comment
Read more

Decolonise

There is an interesting phrase I heard, that Britain colonised itself before the rest of the world. How can a country colonise itself? Well Britain was an island of many cultures, many nations, before the United Kingdom was created and a uniform British culture imposed on everyone here. Regional variations were extinguished, while amateur folklorists attempted to record the dying traces. What a huge sacrifice for the sake of homogenisation. To this day, we feel that one part of Britain is ruling over the rest, sucking up all of the wealth, leaving the rest of us impoverished. This is the same process of colonisation which was then inflicted upon other countries captured by the British Empire. I would say that London and the surrounding South East area is the "Imperial Core" of an Empire which still exists, although in a neo-colonial form.  Poka Laenui suggests five stages of decolonisation: Rediscovery and recovery Mourning Dreaming Commitment, and Action
Post a Comment
Read more

Back Again

I found my old blog by accident. I forgot all about it. Apparently I have to pay a subscription fee to be able to access the same features that used to be free. Maybe that's why I stopped blogging. I've been using instagram as a blog for a few years now. So it's been almost a decade since I last logged in here. What can I update you with? There's a little bit too much to say. I split up with the boyfriend I was blogging about last. He was a lovely guy, but it ran its course. I found a little studio flat in the centre of town and lived by myself for a year. That was a really nice experience. While I was there I met a new guy and started a whole new chapter. We moved to Weymouth in 2021. It will have been 4 years in August. The time has passed quickly. I turned 40 last year. I don't feel any older than when I was 30, but I feel frustrated that I could have done more with my time. The state of the world hasn't gotten any better, and I'm increasingly aw...
Post a Comment
Read more