May Wreath

The first day of May , (or Protomagia in Greek), is a beautiful holiday devoted to Spring. Protomagia finds its roots in Ancient Greece and has always been the day for celebrating life’s rebirth and nature’s blossoming renewal. The Greek goddess Maia, lends her name to the month of May. She was also called Gea Maia, or Mother Earth, and was portrayed as the nursing mother of nature. Maia was also associated with Bona Dea, the ancient Roman goddess of fertility, whose festival was held on the 1st of May. To honour this special day, many festivities and parades are performed around Greece. Traditionally, people go on picnics with loved ones and collect wild flowers to make a wreath, called “stefani”, which they hang on their front door to welcome spring. Some of the bravest locals attempt their first cold swim of the season on this day. On the island of Corfu, the locals parade holding a cypress tree trunk called the “mayoxilo”, meaning May wood, which they have decorated with green branches and yellow daisies. The men who carry it are dressed in white and red and sing songs dedicated to May.

“When I was little, on the 1st of May, my mother and I would go to my grandmother’s beautiful lush garden to pick flowers for our wreath. My grandmother would sit in her rocking chair and enjoy the fresh air. We would walk around the garden and collect flowers and branches. We used flexible twigs for the main body, then added foliage, moss and blossoms all around it and secured them with string. We would hang it on our front door and leave it there for a few weeks, till it was dry. Sometimes, depending on what flowers were used, even the dried out wreath looked beautiful and we would keep it longer. These days many people buy ready made wreaths from flower shops. They are even sold on the side of the road in some places. They are made with special spongy materials and look manicured and perfect. But I loved the process of making the wreath with my mother, while my grandmother smiled in her chair. And it held so much more love and beauty and character with all its imperfections.This tradition is one of my fondest childhood memories. I continue to welcome spring in the same way, with my own children and loved ones, every year on the 1st of May. Such beautiful traditions are truly worth sharing. This year, we found some beautiful bluebells and white bells in our garden.”

With Love, Theresa x