May Day is an ancient spring festival in the Northern Hemisphere and astronomical plus
astrological, one of the year’s four cross-quarter days – a day that falls between an Equinox and Solstice. May 1 falls between the March Equinox and June Solstice.
The other cross-quarter days are Groundhog Day on February 2, Lammas on August 1 and Halloween on October 31.
May Day is the Celtic festival of Beltane and is the waxing strength of the Sun as we in the Northern Hemisphere moving closer to summer. Celebrations include wrapping a maypole with colorful and in the Middle Ages, English villages these were.
Another
tradition was May baskets when people left homemade May baskets filled with
spring flowers and sweets on others’ doorsteps, usually in secret without
letting it be known who left them. That would be a nice idea for charity to
make baskets that included special treats for pets and packets of wildflower
seeds to spread a bit of welcome to nature.
