“Sweet May hath come to love us, Flowers, trees, their blossoms don; And through the blue heavens above us The very clouds move on.”- Heinrich Heine


May is the fifth month of the year in both Julian and Gregorian Calendars. May is one of only seven months with 31 days. May was named for the Greek goddess Maia, and the Roman goddess of fertility, Bona Dea. Ovid, the Roman poet, says that May is named for the elders or maiores, in Latin. In Slovenia, May is known as the month of “big grass”, or “veliki traven”.
No other month begins or ends on the same day of the week as May, ever. January of the following year always begins and ends on the same day of the week as the May of the previous year.

It is also host to myriad monthly celebrations, among them ALS Awareness, Better Hearing & Speech, Carrots and Cauliflower, Celiac Awareness, National Barbecue Month, Clean Air, Get Caught Reading, and International Civility Awareness, to name but a few.

The birthstone is the brilliant green Emerald. The flower is the ever so delicate Lily of the Valley.

May 1 – May Day (international): also known as “Lei Day” in Hawaii. A celebration of spring and the coming of summer.

Beltane Day (international): a celebration of fertility, fire and abundance. Light your bonfires and dance around a Maypole.

Mother Goose Day (international): a day which officially began in 1987 to appreciate the old nursery rhymes. Break out the book (go to the library if you do not have one) of Mother Goose nursery rhymes and share them with a child–pass on the warmth.