Not only is it the Ēosturmōnaþ full moon tonight but the first day of May so my family hearth will tonight honour both Ēostre and Bældæg.

Many folk associate Ēostre with hares and one (perhaps modern) name for this full moon is Hare-moon. Bældæg is of course associated with the May Day celebrations, his name meaning Bæl ‘pyre/fire’ and dæg ‘day’ which has parallels the with German Pholtag and is similar to the Celtic Beltane.

Wes þu Ēostre hāl! Wes þu Bældæg hāl!

Cremation Urn from North Elmham, Norfolk

The Maypole is called the Maibaum or May Tree in Germany. In England the Hawthorn is also called the May Tree as the tree blooms around now and it’s the flowers of the hawthorn which were traditionally used to decorate the crown of the May Queen.

The month that fell around our May was called Þrimilcemōnaþ or Thrice-milk month. Having just calved, cows could be milked three times a day. These cows would have been driven through the ritual May Day fires called ‘need-fires’, a ritual fire started with a bow drill. The Nyd rune is itself a pictogram of a bow drill. Both the OE Nyd and the OG Not come from PGmc *naudiz which has two meanings, ‘need or necessity’ and also ‘force or compulsion’.

...Se fīfta mōnaþ is nemned on ūre geðeōde Ðrymylce, for ðon sƿylc genihtsumnesƿæs geō on Brytone and eāc on Germania lande, of ðæm Ongla ðeōd com on ðās Breotone, ðæt hī on ðæm mōnðe þriƿa on dæge mylcedon heora neāt. -Bede

'..the fifth month is called Ðrymylce in our language, because before, there was such abundance in Britain and also in Germania, whence the Angle-people came to Britain, would milk their cows thrice a day. -Bede

The Dagenham idol is a wooden statue found in Dagenham (London) in 1922. It has been carbon dated to around 2250 BC, making it one of the oldest human representations found in Europe. There is a hole where a phallic peg was likely attached and at some point in time the idols left eye was damaged.

The colour red is often associated with the runes and rune-stones. To redden the runes implies the addition of blood in the dyes used to create them. One of the more common ingredient used to redden the runes was the OE tēafor or red ochre, (the name sometimes used for other red dyes) however red ochre was widely used and also known for its magical properties in its own right. The OE tēafor had cognates in the Dutch ‘toverij’, German ‘zauber’ and Icelandic ‘töfrar’, all of which mean ‘magic’. All these words come from the root *taubrą meaning magic or spells. The way we create the runes and the materials used are perhaps as important as the way we use and read them.

Veistu, hvé rísta skal? Veistu, hvé ráða skal?
Veistu, hvé fáa skal? Veistu, hvé freista skal?
Veistu, hvé biðja skal? Veistu, hvé blóta skal?
Veistu, hvé senda skal? Veistu, hvé sóa skal?