First Day Of May

When I was a child the month of May was a period of special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. At home our mother encouraged us to make a May Altar. I loved this. A deep window sill or table would be cleared and various holy statues, pictures and a crucifix would be placed and among this would be arranged wild flowers in vases and jam jars. We picked primroses, celandine, kingcups, daisies, dog violets anemones and bluebells. Most of these flowers soon wilted but they were easily replaced. I remember once bringing in May blossom but this was strongly discouraged as it was considered 'unlucky'.

I wouldn't have picked dandelions myself because they had a bad reputation and were supposed to make you pee the bed and bringing such a noxious weed to Our Lady's Altar would have shown a serious lack of respect. But daisies were a different matter. Those little Shippam's paste jars were just the right size for posies of violets or daisies. I remember being affronted when one of my aunts mocked us for having daisies on our May Altar. She called them weeds! I was shamed not to know this.

Shippam's Paste Jars

Having the May Altar in our house always made me feel extra holy and I said more prayers in May than I would in any other month. I was always sorry to see it cleared away when May was over but I think that Matty was relieved to be rid of the jars of wilting flowers.

Crataegus, hawthorn, may blossom

When I asked her why May blossom was unlucky and she said it was because it shed its petals so quickly that it made a big mess. I knew she was palming me off. Maybe she did not want to tell me the truth, which was, that hawthorn in the home was associated with death, or worse still, 'unregulated love.' And of course, for a good Catholic, the thought of death might be acceptable but unregulated love? Unthinkable.

An Appeal

13^th February, 2009

To Whom It May Concern:

On the afternoon of 12^th February, 2009 I drove my mother to Tesco Supermarket in Antrim to assist her with her weekly shop. My mother is 82 years old and suffers from angina and other age-related problems, including a poor memory.

I believe this is the first occasion on which we both forgot to display my mother’s parking card and indeed, we often take note ourselves of the other drivers who park in disabled bays without displaying cards and tut disapprovingly at them, never thinking that, they too, might just have forgotten.

Both my mother and I hope that you will see fit to forgive our carelessness on this occasion. I can assure you that we will never forget to display the parking card again.

Yours sincerely,

Nelly Moser (Mrs)

PS I know I am tempting fate sending this appeal on Friday the 13^th. I hope you will prove to me that worrying about today’s date is merely superstitious nonsense