May is named after the a ncient 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 w...