May brings a lifetime of memories
By Alonzo Weston
When I think of May, my wife Deanna and brother Alex’s birthdays on May 15 come to mind. This year in May, I’ll attend the funeral of one of my three cousins who died during the past month.
Folklore has it that people born in May are more likely to achieve higher success and love in their lives. People born in May also are believed to have a better grasp on these elements of life than those born in other months.
Those who celebrated May birthdays include jazz legend Miles Davis, famed psychologist Sigmund Freud and presidents Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy.
May is named after the Greek goddess Maria, the mother of fertility. In the northern hemisphere, May is spring, while in the southern hemisphere it’s autumn. Fittingly it seems to be the month of birth and death of nature.
But May means many things to people. Folklore and sound wisdom has it that you don’t plant tomatoes or a garden before Mother’s Day.
The month has its superstitions too. It’s said that to maintain a youthful appearance, a person is to wash their face in the dew of the morning on the first day of May. It’s also considered bad luck to get married in May because it’s the wedding month of the gods.
It’s bad luck to wash blankets or buy a new broom in May
May is the month school segregation ended in 1954 and it’s when school ends for summer break. I know this well from living near a school. For me it means more parking around my house in the morning and afternoon and fewer school notes, lessons and other youthful trash blown around my yard. However, I love the sound of the children playing on the playground in May. It’s spring music, the sound of blossoming flowers, trees and youth.
I spoke with an older lady the other day about youth and planting in May. She talked of growing up in the country and playing in the green woods and creeks of her childhood.
I shared with her my own memories of the huge Apple Blossom parade floats and lively carnivals in my youth. You could ride bikes all over town and never worry about danger. But a parental whipping awaited you if you weren’t home before the street lights came on.
May began the summer of swimming, biking and young love.
It is a glorious month to celebrate and usher in new life. For me, it’s all that and now the memory of putting my three cousins to eternal rest.
