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Dark Sky Park: May Day

Next Thursday, May 1st, is May Day. Sometimes known as Beltane or International Workers’ Day, May Day is notable because it is a Cross Quarter Day. Those are the days in our calendar that mark the midpoint of a season. In this case spring. While the Equinox and Solstice Points mark the beginning of the seasons, the cross quarter days mark the middle.

We know that former cultures were in the practice of celebrating not only the beginning of each season, but also these mid-points. They did this through elaborate festivals designed to sustain fertility, bring abundant harvest, honor loved ones who had died, and more.

Usually the most intriguing traditions for cross quarter days happened the night before! Most us of as are familiar with Halloween and Mardi Gras. These are cross quarter day eve celebrations.

And the eve of May Day? In Germany it is known as “Walpurgis Night”, a time for wild and raucous celebrations associated with witches who were said to roam the region of the Brocken, the highest peak of the Harz mountain range in Northern Germany. And while the witches made for fantastic story and imagination in this region of Germany, today the mountain where they were said to roam is now mainly used for television and radio broadcast towers.

The eve of May Day is April 30th, and this year it is just past New Moon. Looking west an hour after sunset on April 30th, you may be able to catch the sliver of crescent Moon approaching the stars of Taurus the Bull. This position of the Moon near Taurus was regarded in pagan practice as the time in the season for leading cattle between great bonfires as a way to purge disease.

It was believed that Taurus, as the ‘celestial bull’ oversaw such ceremony. Further, in ancient belief, each region of the zodiac was associated with one of four elements: fire, earth, air and water. At the eve of May Day, the Sun is said to be in the region of Aries, a fire sign. The combination of the Moon in the region of the celestial bull Taurus and the Sun in the region of the fire sign Aries was used to build the ceremonial practice of May Day.