Maybe Not

Maybe I’ll find millions of dollars. Maybe the light will dawn in people’s lives and we’ll all get along with each other. Maybe the news coming from the television will be only good. And then, again…maybe not. This is the month of May and if you see a strange-looking but busy little insect this month, it may be the May Bee.

But, no maybes about it, May’s birthstone is the emerald. Lily of the Valley and Hawthorne are May’s two birth flowers.

The May Bee is probably a very old story started by our ancestors who wanted to lighten up this world with a bit of fun. Just as is the custom of the May basket and the May pole.

Medieval people put a great deal of stock in celebrating May 1. Winter was over and winter for them could be pretty rough, cold, uncomfortable and dreary. They were happy to see spring arrive. (So am I.)

This verse is sometimes attributed to Chaucer, whether or not he wrote it:

And furth goth all the Court, both most and lest,
To feche the floures fressh, and braunche and blome;
And namly, hawthorn brought both page and grome.
With fressh garlandes, partie blewe and whyte,
And thaim rejoysen in their greet delyt.

(We could look on the spellings as a challenge.)

At Etta, when Mom was a child, they made paper baskets; on May 1 they  filled them with wildflowers, and knocked on Aunt Etta and Uncle George’s door. Then they hid and watched as Aunt Etta opened the door and found her pretty surprise basket.

Whether we attend a spring celebration or not, it is fun to answer questions with “Maybe.” Sometimes, that is the best answer of all.