Usually seen as the start of summer here, the first of May is celebrated as Beltane, one of the four seasonal festivals of the pagan calendar. On this day my IG feed blooms with Beltane greetings, often featuring flowers, for it is a tradition to leave flowers at one’s front door, to ward off fairies and other mischievous spirits.

Unfortunately I was too ill to gather dandelions and daisies in our yard. But the next day it was apparent that someone had laid flowers at each door on our road, an anonymous moment of grace midway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice.




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