Beltane or May Cup
Traditional May: As with our New Year celebrations the Saxons began their May Day celebrations on April 30th with an evening of games and feasting, all marking the end of winter and the start of Spring. The Celts continued the tradition throughout the middle ages especially in rural areas. Homes and barns were decorated with budding branches. Hawthorn was popular for this but considered unlucky if it were brought into a house before May Day itself. May Cup was made and offered to all visitors on May Day.
Ingredients:
4 glasses of white wine
1 glass of brandy
8 glasses of dry cider
A few slices of orange
A handful of sweet woodruff (cultivated woodruff plants can be purchased so please don’t pick it from the wild)
Method:
Mix all the ingredients together and leave for about 2 hours in a cool place.
Filter into a jug and serve to your May Day guests.
Of course this would be a very welcome aperitif to May Pole dancing.
May Day Maids of Honour (traditional)
May Day, or Garland Day was a day of great celebration to welcome arrival of spring. There are many traditions related to May Day but I am particularly drawn to the one where you have to get up at dawn to wash your face in the dew. Along with ensuring a fine complexion it also promised that you would marry the first man you set eyes on afterwards. Sounds decidedly risky to me. There are several traditional recipes synonymous to the day, most of which seem to require huge quantities of alcohol. But also there are “Maids of Honourâ€
I snip them with scissors into little ribbons and pop them into large Yeo yogurt tubs and hey presto ,, sprinkle in to soups pasta sauce ... where ever you want them. I also freeze some of the flowers the same way.
