Source: youtu.be
May Crowning [2020]
hail, virgin, dearest mary, our lovely queen of may! o, spotless, blessed lady, our lovely queen of may! -- marian hymn, "hail, virgin, dearest mary"
Crowning Mary ‘Queen of the May’ on Flower Moon.
My Mary statue's just a little too small to be crowned, so I typically surround her with homegrown and locally foraged May flowers with an established Marian theme (e.g. rosemary, lady's mantle, and 'sword lily' - aka iris - whose blade-like leaves are meant to represent the prophesied sword that would later pierce her soul) on the evening of her floral coronation.
May Crown: Dutch iris (Iris × hollandica), flowering catmint (Nepeta × faassenii), flowering rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus), and lady's mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris). The iris, catmint, and rosemary were harvested from my backyard container garden, the lady's mantle was a birthday gift that hadn't yet been added to the container garden.
Source: Flickr / graveyarddirt
Beekeeper [Sintober 18/31]
Sintober: Beekeeper
“…through the small rear window of these people’s house they could see into a splendid garden that was filled with the most beautiful flowers and herbs. The garden was surrounded by a high wall, and no one dared enter, because it belonged to a sorceress who possessed great power and was feared by everyone…”
‘Beekeeper’ is represented by me and these 10 photos of my devotional life, homemade projects, backyard harvests, seasonal celebrations, and ancestral venerations that would not be possible without the help of all pollinators that visit and make home in Dame Gothel’s garden.
Source: Flickr / graveyarddirt
Ancient Hedgerow [19/05/23]
I suspect the local hedge where I harvest my sweet woodruff from qualifies as an 'ancient hedge' as it was most definitely in existence before the Enclosure Acts of the 18th and 19th centuries (between 1720 and 1840).
This meandering stretch of verdant vegetation plays host to a number of plants and trees primarily found in ancient hedgerows and woodlands that require generations of undisturbed growth to colonize large swathes of habitat.
Source: Flickr / graveyarddirt
(In the) Streets & Sheets
"A pox on the phony king of England!" -- Phil Harris, 'The Phony King Of England'
Vintage Disney in the streets, snakeskin bodysuits in the sheets. 😉
Source: Flickr / graveyarddirt
Optimal Coumarin Experience
Sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum), an intensely fragrant strewing herb and flavor-lending hedge native (maiwein, hell yeah!), typically comes into season by Old May Day in northeast Scotland.
Spring was colder and wetter than usual, so this year's woodruff harvest's running late - normally Bird and I process a basket of flowers and leaves together between St. George's Day (May 6th) and Old May Day (May 14th).
When I peeked in on the patch two days ago it was just about where it needed to be for an optimal coumarin experience (the chemical compound that gives woodruff its sweet vanilla-hay scent and taste).
see also: #woodruff
Source: Flickr / graveyarddirt
LOL @ me for seriously thinking yesterday's 7 mile hike wasn't going to have any sort of impact on today's ability to function. 🙃
Dog Violet
Common dog-violet (Viola riviniana), FOUND. [2 of 3]
This'll make absolutely no sense since I've never had a chance to talk about it, but the short story is: at the beginning of my devotional year I pull two sets of cards.
One set focuses on native species of plants, trees, and animals that were sacred to my husband's Scottish ancestors (my annual 'year with...' project), the second set comes from a pack of wild flower-themed playing cards - native & invasive species - that I'm meant to find during my parking and foraging expeditions.
It's a game, really - definitely not as serious as my plant, tree, and animal for the year - but it pushes me to explore, and helps align familiar appearances with unfamiliar names (sometimes vice versa).
see also: #divination, #spring, #violet
Source: Flickr / graveyarddirt
Vyshyvanka Day [2022]
“You look like you’d know what wild garlic looks like,” an elderly woman said to the younger woman who was perched on a rotting stump in the sun-dappled hedge.
“I do know what wild garlic looks like,” the younger responded, the red-embroidered kalyna [guelder rose] berries encircling her wrists briefly pausing their movement as she spoke, “they’re on the other side of the path, about 10-15 metres away.”
“Hold on, I’ll show you,” she then offered, brushing pollen off her vyshyvanka [embroidered shirt] as she rose from the inland sea of blossoming woodruff. “That way you’ll always be able to find it.”
(On the third Thursday of every May Ukrainians all over the world celebrate Vyshyvanka Day. Yesterday I wore my kalyna blouse to a semi-local hedge to harvest fresh woodruff for next year’s maiwein.)
see also: #clothing, #guelder rose, #woodruff
Source: Flickr / graveyarddirt
May Crowning
o stone cock! we crown thee with blossoms today king of the queendom, king of the may o stone cock! we crown thee with blossoms today king of the queendom, king of the may
Lyrics adapted from ’Bring Flowers of the Rarest’, a Victorian Marian hymn sung during May crownings.
see also: #stone cock
Source: Flickr / graveyarddirt
Naturally Intersect [Old Hexennacht]
i was hunting you down, and i was the bait when i saw you there, i didn't need to hesitate -- samantha fox, 'touch me (i want your body)'
Leave it to me to find where Page 3 and The Lair of the White Worm naturally intersect.
Source: Flickr / graveyarddirt
Samhradh Samhradh
The Gloaming: Samhradh Samhradh [Summer Summer]
bábóg na bealtaine, maighdean an tsamhraidh [mayday doll, maiden of summer] suas gach cnoc is síos gach gleann [up every hill and down every glen] cailíní maiseacha bán-gheala gléasta [beautiful girls, radiant and shining] thugamar féin an samhradh linn [we have brought the summer in]
Source: youtu.be
Common Bluebell
Common bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta), FOUND. [1 of 3]
This'll make absolutely no sense since I've never had a chance to talk about it, but the short story is: at the beginning of my devotional year I pull two sets of cards.
One set focuses on native species of plants, trees, and animals that were sacred to my husband's Scottish ancestors (my annual 'year with...' project), the second set comes from a pack of wild flower-themed playing cards - native & invasive species - that I'm meant to find during my parking and foraging expeditions.
It's a game, really - definitely not as serious as my plant, tree, and animal for the year - but it pushes me to explore, and helps align familiar appearances with unfamiliar names (sometimes vice versa).
see also: #bluebell, #divination, #spring
Source: Flickr / graveyarddirt