. . . For 'tis now our holiday!
Happy Beltane, people.
I did not haste away to the maypole as instructed by the Staines Morris song, but I did have a lovely ritual, yes thank you for asking. I've also put up a rather weird-looking decoration in my window. It's an experiment. It's kind of a . . . um, like a double maypole with a horizontal one connecting them. Actually it kinda looks like a warped version of those Japanese shrine entrances. If such things were made out of long wooden dowels. It's draped with beads and ribbons and feathers--looks admirably tacky, I think. My neighbors were hanging around outside while I was putting it up, they gave me some odd looks. Like they have the right to give anyone weird looks.
I made my usual maple hearth bread. It is SO good. I wish the loaf it made was bigger. It's all gone now (unless the bits I left for Mike haven't been eaten yet). I also made a scone thing called Scones of Edinburgh, but they're kinda bitter and crunchy; I know that's kind of the point, but they're not that good, 'specially compared with the maple bread. Also, for the first time in my life, I successfully made divinity candy. Sort of successfully, actually--it doesn't hold its shape long out of the refrigerator, but I don't know if that's normal or not. But I must say I will probably never make candy again. It is way too much of a pain in the ass.
When trying to decide what kinda crap to make for my festivities, my co-worker Diana tried to "help" me. I had been mentioning how I'd cooked a Boston cream pie last week, and she said, "Oh, well I think Boston cream pie is a good traditional thing to bring." I told her I didn't think that when the Pagan traditions started that there WAS any Boston. Hah. (She also amusingly thought that when I said there was a layer of pudding in Boston cream pies, that I must have just bought instant pudding and made it. I corrected her--NO, I am Betty Crocker! Who buys boxes?? I made that shit from scratch, sucka! I told her so and she gave me a bewildered look, like it's unTHINKable that anyone makes pudding from scratch anymore.)
I have a cute festive outfit on today. I am wearing my homemade skirt--it's several layers and pretty and blue sorta floaty-like, with faint patterns of daisies. I just wore a white shirt with beads sewn into the sleeves and bottom hem, and lots of cool beaded necklaces, and I wore my hair in pigtails with colored braids in them and my strawberry-printed scarf on top. Oh, and on my ankles I had bells. There's this cool Beltane legend about how the mischievous faeries are out and about on May Day, and you're supposed to do this dance with bells on your heels to scare them off. I like that little story and on Beltane I like to wear bells to remember it--but this is the first year I've actually figured out a way to make them stay around my ankles. I used hemp rope and made little macrame anklets with three bells knotted into each. They stayed on all day without me having to do anything. Actually I'm wearing 'em now. I'm all jingly!
Dammit, I wish I had some more Beltane food to eat besides that candy. Maybe tomorrow I'll make a blueberry tart or something. Nummy.
Notes:
How DO you make pudding from scratch anyway?
I don't believe this. I sign in and I get a PAGE FULL OF ADVERTISEMENTS. I had to scroll down to the bottom to click "Continue to where I was going" or something of that vein. Oh, woe is me :) Do I say "Happy Beltane"? Sounds like you had a good time. Next time, I'm buying a P.O box for a month so you can send me some FOOD!! That you, like, MADE. Gawd, that's 'mazing! Hehe. Happy Beltane! [katqueen]