Happy May Day!
In the ancient Celtic calendar, May Day, or Beltane, is celebrated to usher in the light half of the year, a time of fertility and abundance. In the standard calendar, this happens on May 1. Celebrations include bonfires to honor the solar god, rites of cleansing and purification, and collecting flowers to symbolize the richness of Spring....and of course, the Maypole: during this festival boys and girls would traditionally dance in opposite directions holding the end of a colored ribbon of the Maypole (symbol of fertility) and weaving a multi-colored tapestry around the pole.Here on Thetford Hill, every May 1, at 5 am, Greg and I wake to the sounds of Morris dancers on the common—drums and recorders and gleeful shouts as the dancers, garbed in white, leap and circle each other with scarves and/or sticks. Presumably they dance and whoop and make merry to ensure that they wake up the sun and keep it shining through the year.They dance their celebration just steps from our house, and for the past 14 May 1's, Greg and I have woken up just before dawn, momentarily puzzled about what we are hearing. The first year it was a charming enough surprise that we bundled up our then small boys and staggered out to witness the spectacle. Now, we stay inside (rarely is it something other than cold and gray on May 1) and marvel at the number of May 1's we have listened to from under warm covers. Every year, without fail, we forget that this is "a thing" until we hear the first strains of pre-dawn revelry, but then one or the other of us mumbles "May Day" and we go back to sleep. Or, lie in bed and feel the accumulation of years, of May 1's. It's a bittersweet reminder for us, of time passing, children now (mostly) grown. Our dog, once attuned to all, is now mostly deaf and when she does hear something, for the most part is content to grunt and lay her head back on the dog bed and fall back into twitchy dog dreams. This year, she didn't even open an eye.A very happy May Day to you all. Fertility rites—symbolically and otherwise—seem a good and fruitful thing to celebrate. the coaxing of the reluctant sun to our New England landscape: also good (if a little overly optimistic at the moment.)I hope the sun shines warmly upon all of us (soon-ish, please) and that our lives are rich and abundant with love, family, fun times, and enough yoga to keep us in the balance when the gray days outweigh the bright ones!This Friday is May 5 and UVY recognizes Cinqo de Mayo with 3 events:NEW 9 am flow class in Thetford5:30 YIN YOGA also in Thetford5:30 HIP HOP YOGA in WRJ(in addition to our regular Friday classes).