We're All Ears :: May Inspiration:: May Day

                                            Floral Wreath  Photo by Chalo Garcia on Unsplash

May's inspiration for the We're All Ears challenge is the tradition of May Day: flowers in cones or baskets, dancing around a Maypole with ribbons.... or other signs of spring!

May Day is part of larger festivals and celebrations that are about dancing and songs all focused on the fields beginning to grow. Some celebrations envolve dancing around a Maypole while holding colorful ribbons woven in and out.  This dance symbolizes the celebration of the fertility of crops. Crowning a May Queen, or in the Catholic tradition crowing Mary statues, are also part of these festivities.

When I was a young child in the late 1950's, I attended a Catholic School and during the month of May we honoring the Virgin Mary as "the Queen of May". We had what is called a "May Crowning". Each day an assigned student was to make a fresh crown of flowers to be placed on a statue of Mary.

Virgin Mary Honored By Jacopo di Mino del Pellicciaio - Self-scanned, Public Domain

This custom fell out of vogue in many places during the 1970s-80s, but has since made a comeback along with many other traditional Catholic practices. Today, May crownings occur in many Roman Catholic parishes and homes with the crowning of a statue of Mary. The climax of the celebration is the moment when the one of those present places a crown of flowers on Mary's head accompanied by a traditional hymn to the Blessed Mother. The ceremony often takes place with young girls in dresses carrying flowers to adorn the statue. 

Floral Earrings by BayMoonDesign

I had some bell shaped floral earrings by Grubbi Ceramics in my stash and they remind me of the shape of a May pole.  The purple and blue flowers capture some of the best florals seen in the spring.

Bell Shaped Dangles by BayMoonDesign

These floral purple earrings are perfect for spring and summer. The handmade earrings make pretty statement dangles. I added lavender freshwater pearls and Swarovski crystals to bell shaped floral ceramics. These statement earrings have sterling ear wires. They hang 2 inches from curve in ear wire to bottom of ceramics. They are light earrings to wear and they are available for purchase and ready to ship from my online shop.

This is a blog hop so I am looking forward to seeing what others were inspired to create.   Pop on over to the Earrings Everyday blog to see what everyone else was inspired to make!