#may tree

[awakeningthevioletswithin]

Darling Buds Of May

Watercolor On Black Paper

2024, 22"x 30"

Paul’s Scarlet Hawthorn Tree

Private Collection

[useless-catalanfacts]

Holiday of the May Tree Planting

Some towns in our country celebrate this tradition in early May. It's related to the May Day festivities that can be found around Europe that celebrate spring. It's unknown how old the May Tree festivities are, but they are documented since the Middle Ages, when they were very widespread in the Catalan Countries, but nowadays it only survives in little more than 30 towns in Catalonia and a handful of towns in the Valencian Country and La Franja.

The festivity goes like this: the townspeople go get a tall tree from the woods around their hometown, they cut it down and collectively carry it to the town's main square. There, we find the most iconic moment: the Planting of the May Tree. The tree is planted on the square and will remain there for some days, all the duration of the holiday. Around the tree, many celebrations are held, including dances, concerts, contests, community meals, even sports events or other cultural activities. In most places, the tree is taken down after the festivities end, only very few places keep the old tradition of keeping the tree in that place for the whole year to be replaced next May with a new one.

On top of these common elements, each town adds their own local traditions. For example, in Òrrius (Barcelona Metropolitan Ambit, Catalonia), at night people go around the town stealing objects from the houses' courtyards and leave them at the base of the tree as an offering. The owners go get their things back on Sunday morning. Another example: in Cornellà del Terri (Comarques Gironines, Catalonia), they dance a specific traditional dance for this holiday called the Horned Man's Dance (ball del cornut) which is believed to represent the moment where the town was freed from the feudal lord.

People from Cornellà del Terri dancing the Horned Man's Dance. Photos by Jordi Güell and Patrimoni Festiu de Catalunya.

When exactly the festivity happens depends on the town. It usually starts on the night between April 30th and May 1st, on May 1st, or on the first weekend of May.

I made this map with the towns I found that celebrate this festivity, but there might be some that I'm missing. You can zoom in the map here.

There are many ancestral traditions in the Catalan Countries related to trees. In winter, one of our most beloved traditions is Tió de Nadal ("Christmas Log": children take care of a log during December, feeding it and keeping it warm, and on Christmas it poops them presents) which is widespread in all Catalonia and Andorra, the Saint Anthony bonfires are also done in many places, and there's more local ones like Burning the May or Burning Winter (one tree is burned at the end of January to ask for winter to end), the Pine Tree holidays like Santa Coloma and U Pi, and the Fia-Faia (carrying burning logs down the mountain). In spring, the May Tree Planting, palms, and the Cross. And in summer, Saint John's bonfires and the Pyrenean falles (similar to fia-faia but more widespread). Many of these trees are called "mai" or "maio", not only the one in spring.

Information sources: Tallar-lo per després plantar-lo: aproximació etnogràfica de la Plantada de l'Arbre Maig a Òrrius, Departament de Cultura / Generalitat de Catalunya, Xarxa d'Arxius Comarcals, Patrimoni Festiu de Catalunya. Photo sources: Mapes del Patrimoni Cultural, Departament de Cultura / Generalitat de Catalunya (Folgueroles), Regió7 (Igualada), Ajuntament de Cornellà del Terri.

[toothwalker]

the may tree blossom this year was wonderful!

Surrey, UK, May 2025

[countrybabbitt]

Penrhos coastal park

[bluebellbanshee]

"In fact, the hawthorn stands out for its paradoxes: it is both a common hedgerow shrub and known for standing alone on the hills, a guardian of the landscape. It represents sex, beauty and fertility but also death. It is said to bring both protection and bad luck, and has been both revered and feared"

@teegowo 🌳🌼🌿

[outislovesgoobers]

Me and one of my IRLs had this interaction about Hector last night and I felt I needed to share with the class

[my-dear-cassy]

I feel like not enough people talk about the fact that the lego bonsai tree uses tiny pink frogs as flowers.

You can have a tiny tree full of even tinyer pink frogs!

(Also it comes with a brick separator that is this very pretty bluish colour. )

(Also also it's a very great option if you are looking for a may tree for your partner. There's a reason i'm marrying my bf fiance. He made me a proud frog mum.)

[balimaria]

They tell ghost stories about that boy who vanished in the storm

[janeylfoster]

Reverb (Not Right Now - Right Now)

1. Right. Fine. I’ll just look at the sky then, I’ll just notice how the may tree berries echo the salmon shade of clouds. Soft charcoal trees on the Ridgeway where I used to walk. I know, I know – someone made it February. What can I do?  2. Pale lime and almost moss green of the parsley into soft lemon, fading now. Bright spots of chrome, diamonds on my tap, underneath uncertain cloud.…

[annafridacharlotte]

[megalomari]

still thinking about that panel from the tva comic...

[awakeningthevioletswithin]

Paul’s Red

Watercolor On Black Paper

2022, 10"x 14

Paul’s Scarlet Hawthorn Tree

[sanseterrer]

[geopsych]

Imagine being the tree when you feel the first light of the morning and light is what feeds you.

[mystiffox]

[ Change of Fate AU ]

A spire of knowledge built in a clearing amongst dense forests is home to the one and only scholar with the secrets of Earthbread whispered into his soft, soft dough, to be taught to whoever is willing to listen. And yet, that particular region in the continent feels less open to lessons of truth, more that it is shrouded in mystery. His staff feels like a key to a lock that is not visible. His hair is a galaxy that averts its gaze when you notice it. What more does he know? And how dangerous can knowing really be?

Yoghurt Milk my beloved 🫐 so silly, so whimsy hehe (has multiple mental/physical illnesses)

beyond that: Chilli Pepper Cookie & Rye Cookie's refs are next!

[saapasjalkakissa-tg]

Roksolyana Hilevych Photography