Day 46 - SkyLines from the French Lock-down: May Day - Time for Good Luck

 Bonjour nos amis! (Hello, our friends!)

It’s May!  Hooray! But while we are still in confinement, this year we will celebrate the approach of summer quietly. No dancing around a bonfire this year. But we are going to follow one French fashion and usher in May with flowers and sunshine. Best of all, you are here to join us, in a virtual way. 

We choose to celebrate May with flowers

Day 46 - May Day. We slept with the window open and woke up early. Maybe because the sunshine arrived early and lit the hallway with daylight earlier than it has for a long time.

A May tradition

Maybe it was the birds. I got up at six and shut the window. It wasn't cold, it was the blasted, er ahem, I mean sweet and blessed birds. Love 'em to pieces and really like them even better if they let me sleep. I know, it's a quandary. I'm not an easy woman to please...

The breakfast table holds more than our typical cereal, yogurt, juice, and coffee today. There is a vase of flowers. This year they came from a supermarket instead of the traditional curbside vendors. The rose and ferns are optional. The sprigs of Muguet (Lily of the Valley) are compulsory! They are absolutely necessary to ensure good luck for the coming year.  But I digress. Let's talk about May Day in France.

There are three ways to celebrate - or even four, if you count not celebrating it. The first is the pagan celebration of Beltane, (Beltaine in French) the celebration of the day we move closer to summer than we are from spring. It is a time to plant and care for the crops that will feed us. It is on the opposite side of the pagan circle of the year from the Autumnal festival of Samhain (Halloween) the end of the harvest season. The traditional Maypole (mât du mai)  is the symbol of this festival as are the bonfire dances on April 30th. This is not widely celebrated by the French. Just as they do not make a big deal of the modern religious celebrations, they tend to be quiet about the ancient celebrations.

May Day is marked on the calendars as the "Fete du travail" (Labor day) and is the way to celebrate this day that most French people would cite. It makes sense because it is a

Chestnut Tree in bloom

paid holiday from work. It is held to celebrate the rights of workers. Marching ranks of workers parade throughout the country and usually there are protests (as with almost all gatherings of French people, as far as I can tell.) I expect if I mention this to Y, my French partner, he would say it is "obligatoire!" (required). 

Yeah, this year it's not really happening. Those who are at home aren't working and those who are considered essential workers have to work. I told Y we needed bread and he told me that no one would be open today. But he went out anyway and came back later totally shocked by the discovery that not only was the bakery open but so were the grocery, pharmacy, and butcher's shop. He gave me the baguette and exclaimed, "C'est incroyable!" (It's incredible.) I didn't tell him that in America, we would think it was incredible that everyone had the paid day off. As a

Wildflowers bloom because
trimming the grass
is considered unessential!

side note - the celebration of the laborers in France was modeled on a Chicago trade union that protested for an 8 hour workday on the 1st of May in 1886. The red flag they carried eventually was changed to the symbol of a red rose then later became a lily of the valley. Which brings us neatly to the third way the French celebrate the day. It's my favorite!

It is the third way of celebrating this day that touches my heart. It  is the selling and exchanging of “Muguets des Bois” (Lily of the Valley). They are also called "porte-bonheur" literally, "bringer of happiness." These fragrant, petit flowers are exchanged on the first of May as a token of friendship. In the lead up to May, every shop sells bouquets or pots of these lovely flowers. Knowing that this year, there would not be individuals selling them on the street corners, we picked up ours at the supermarket. The house is perfumed with the scent - and it gives me such a lift. 

I’ve read it is from the musk they produce, and this almost explains their French name, Muguet.  Can you believe that in medieval times, it was considered a man’s fragrance?  I’ve read that right up until the 19th century, the word “Muguet” was synonymous with ‘elegant young man.'  Actually, I wonder if that tradition might explain the heavy perfumes many men

Muguet des Bois

here wear today? Y worries that I am talking about  him. Just a moment.  "Non, mon amour - J'adore ton parfum. Ne t’inquiète pas!" I tell him, meaning I love his Christian Dior scent.He does not need to worry. Back to our discussion on this May custom.

Just why did the French choose May first to exchange these flowers?  Well, the blooms appear from the end of April and throughout the month of May, so it is the flower of the moment.  There is also a lovely story that says the French king, Charles IX, started this tradition in 1561, when he gave sprigs of Muguet des Bois to his courtiers for good luck. There is a dispensation that allows anyone to sell Muguet on this day. Normally only florists may sell flowers. I love seeing the stalls along the roadsides and the gardeners in front of their houses with little tables selling bunches of good luck. I'm missing that tradition this year but if this lucky charm works, our luck will be good, and we will buy them on the streets next year.

After breakfast, we took our flowers with us out on the terrace and read in the sunshine. I sipped coffee and take this time to write to you. It is a beautiful day to contemplate the end of the cold days. When I finish this blog, we  plan to take a long walk. I'm fairly sure we won’t see any lily of

Flowers tumble over a wall

the valleys along the river or in the flower beds. There are no woods nearby. But in my heart, I offer to you virtual Muguet des Bois flowers; they are your bearers of good luck and happiness.  This is our wish for you, a year full of good luck and friendship.
  
The walk was lovely and I took a lot of photos as usual. I'll add a few here to share with you. On the way back home, the sun was still shining but a light rain fell. I wondered where the clouds could be to drop rain on us while the sky was so blue? Like the stories we are all hearing and reading during this strange time of quarantine, it is just another mystery. For now, there is no mystery about the fact that we are all stronger together. 

Eventually, we will find ourselves on the other side of this epic struggle to

Good luck for the coming year

get through. Courage. We will make it! We are succeeding at keeping the curve down. The flowers are just a symbol to wish us all luck. It can't hurt.
A demain, les amis! Et Bonne Chance toujours!)
(Until tomorrow, friends! And Good Luck, always!)

Link to Day 47