May, Motherhood and Memories

May is a Happy Month

 

  Its' lovely flower is the Lily of the Valley...

Fabergé

 

Divine Jar

 

 

More Jar, sigh...

 And its stone the Emerald...

In the rough...

in all its green glory

and not so rough by Cartier

 

May is Maia's month; the Goddess worshipped by the Romans who associated her with Growth and Spring.

Ancient European pagans initially started a sun-worshipping festival known as Beltane; lighting bonfires, decorating homes with May flowers, making May bushes, May baskets and feasting. In time, this came to take on an aura of fertility rites. Later, May Day also came into being as a child-focused holiday. Couples would also go A'Maying back then...they would spend the night in the woods, making love (yes yes; even before the peace and love, hippie lovechild did...) and bringing back armfuls of haw thorn or other May blossoms to decorate their homes and barns ! There was definitely an accepted tradition of Beltane babies arriving nine months later!

 

Even Queens did it ....

Queen Guinevere  A'Maying by John Collier

Another sweet May tradition is the Maypole...a popular and familiar image of May Day and Beltane. A pole, often made of birch, inserted in the earth representing the potency of God with a ring of flowers at the top representing the  fertile Goddess. Its' ribbons and dance symbolise the spiral of Life and the union of God and Goddess; Earth and Sky.

 symbolism or not;  it's just fun to twist those ribbons around...

So May is Spring, Fertility, Renewal, Birth, Growth and most importantly, May is...

The Celebration of Motherhood

 This is precisely why May makes me happy. It's that month where, for a day, Mothers are celebrated, remembered and thanked. As a daughter, I think of my mother, although she is no longer by my side,of how her strength and love still guide me everyday. As the fortunate mother of three wonderful girls, I feel blessed and challenged all the time; sharing their joys and their pains and just trying my best to be there and to rise to the occasion anytime they honour me with their trust and love. Shortly after I lost my mother; my confident, my best friend; I finally became a mother. My parents had raised my brother and I with love and respect and my daughters are now continuing my education. Being a Mom, I still learn every single day. I hope they will continue to keep me on my toes for many many more years and although today is officialy Mothers' Day (and the reason for this post..) ...in my heart every day is Daughters' Day!

 

Memories 

 I love this song by Selah Sue. It's simply called "Mommy"...

 

 

On this special day filled with memories of yesterday and dreams for tommorrow , I wish you all a very special and happy Mothers' Day...

 

 

 

 And a joyful and festive Daughters' day !!