This image comes from the Fyrnsidu Facebook page, and the painting is by Bottocelli.
In Fyrnsidu belief this weekend ends the Eostre season with Blostmfreols, the flower festival. It’s a new holy day and for a discussion of the theory and history behind it, I direct you to the Larhus Fyrnsidu page linked to above.
For other pagans this weekend is the fire festival of Beltane, and also a time of May pole dancing. The May Day celebrations are separate in origin and history to Beltane festivals. Beltane is assumed to be ‘Celtic’ in origin, whereas May Day and May pole dancing in supposed to be more Germanic. It all got mixed up by Victorian antiquarians who were desperate for anything they could claim as prehistoric leftovers. The ribbon dances around May poles are Victorian in origin.
The festivals celebrate the burst of life that usually accompanies the beginning of May, even if it’s a bit chilly at the moment, and I’m pretty sure we’re going to get another downpour later.
May Day, the public holiday, has a different origin, in workers strikes and demands for shorter working days, paid holidays and safer working conditions.
All these are valid reasons to celebrate this weekend.
I’m going to Spirit of the Marsh Festival tomorrow with a friend. It’s a weekend festival in Lincolnshire of talks, workshops and music, from Friday until Monday morning. Day and evening tickets are available. I particularly want to go to a talk by Pete Jennings about medieval elves. I intend to sample the wares of Veganic Kitchen too.
On Thursday my fruit and veg delivery came with some plants I’d ordered. Green Futures Grimsby is a local social enterprise, growing and supplying fruit and veg to local people, selling plants at a reasonable price and providing work experience to the socially disadvantaged. They’re good people who extend me credit. I ordered a few different plants but only the broad and french beans, two sweet peppers and a pack of pansies arrived. They were out of runner beans and something happened to my tomatoes but they will be delivered with my next order.
I planted them all out this afternoon, hopefully they should bed in and I’ll have a selection of veg later in the year, and some pretty flowers for now. The tree seeds the Woodland Trust sent me are coming on nicely in their tray, I’ll have to pot them on soon. The sunflower seeds I was given at the Abus Coritani Ostara ritual in March are starting to come through in their pot, only two of the five at the minute.
In other gardening activities, I turned my compost bins. I have three garden bins, cheap ones from Poundstretchers, that are collapsible. When I got them I put some holes in the bottom for drainage and fill them with garden and kitchen waste. Every six months or so, when the waste has composted down to about half, I tip one of the bins into another and start refilling the empty bin. I have two bins three-quarters full and one with a layer of stuff I pulled out of the front garden this afternoon so I could plant my pansies. There are potatoes growing in one of the full bins, probably from an old potato that got thrown out last year.
I’m not the greatest gardener but I get by.
Have a good weekend.
Lost in Lindsey 