Hooray, hooray it's the first of May
Better boating weather begins today!

Enjoyed a wonderful May Day cruise to Port Townsend. (Hmmm, that
doesn't sound just right, a "mayday cruise"?)
Discovered Peaking Peater ale at the Pt. Townsend Brewery, (south end
of the municipal marina). They use peat, somehow, in the brewing
process, resulting in a rich tasting, slightly sweet beer.
mmmm, good! NW boaters may want to check this out when in PT.

Other May 1st traditions beyond good boating weather and parades
through Red Sqau

From the web:

The celebration of May 1st, or Beltane is one of the most important
festivals the year. The word Beltane literally means, "shining fire."
This is one of the most exciting festivals of the Wheel of the year. It
is also one of the only holidays that is usually celebrated in the
light of day. The collecting of spring flowers is one of the popular
customs of this day. For thousands of years, people would go into the
fields to collect the pretty flowers and exchange them.

Towns people would often proceed through the village streets putting
flowers on all the houses and buildings. People inside the homes would
offer them wonderful food and goodies to eat as sort of a spring
version of "trick or treat." Another benchmark tradition of this
holiday is the Maypole. In tradition, a fir was used. The young, unwed
men would go to the forest and return with the tree that would be
fashioned into the pole. The pole was brought to the center of the
village to be guarded through the night until the first day of May. On
that day, the people would come and dance around the maypole clockwise
to bring fertility and good luck. Later, brightly colored ribbons were
woven around the pole by the dancers as they wove around eachother.
This symbolizes the balance of masculine and feminine energies and the
duality of life. The ribbons would then be removed and kept in a safe
place to be burned in the Beltane fires of next year. This action
represents the old dying to give birth to the new.

Fertility is a central theme of Beltane. The people lived in close
connection with the Earth. To have food to eat, the crops and the
beasts of the fields would have to be fertile.

In the time of the ancients, this was a life and death matter. For this
reason, we have a number of holidays and rituals that are connected
with fertility. The maypole is connected to this theme by way of the
view point of it being a phallic symbol.

Another fertility representation is the custom of jumping the cauldron.
Couples wishing to conceive children will jump the cauldron together.
Fertility of all areas of life are invoked during this holiday as well
as sexual fertility.


(end of piece from the web)

I'm amazed the human race survived if people thought babies were made
by leaping over a caudldron. :-)