With a group of women I've been celebrating our southern seasons for over 25 years. Beltane has just passed, and this time we turned up at the house of our oldest member, bringing what we thought was fitting for the season. Quite spontaneously, the colour theme of red and green emerged. The vibrancy of these colours suited the season perfectly.
Tarata (lemon wood) was used by the Maori to make a lemony scent. Here it is in flower, in the discreet way that so many of our native trees have (for they were usually pollinated by moths at night rather than bees by day). The smaller leafed tarata is actually more fragrant than this variety, with its larger leaves.
Lavender was blooming profusely in my friend's garden, where I gathered the tarata. Both native and exotic vegetation is full of fragrance in this time of high spring.
About an hour before I set out for our gathering, I sent my edited manuscript to the designer — yea!!
It's such a relief to be changing from words to images. The red and green, shimmering together, were perfect for the feeling of celebration, flowering and sap rising.
7 comments:
i just love that you all are still meeting! my heart feels full x
Hi Juliet - well done for getting your manuscript off - excellent news for the beginning of the blooming year .. light days ahead.
I remember you doing and celebrating Beltane last year - I think .. does it work being upside down??!!
Love the thought of Tarata ...
Cheers Hilary
*Aniss, it is so special to have such a long-lived group and to keep commemorating the seasons.
* Hilary, it works perfectly, bringing our seasons back into alignment. The only problem with this time of year is that Halloween has been imported, rather as a commercial festival, which rather undermines the celebration of spring. But on the other hand, it makes our spring festival all the more important.
Thank you Anissa and Hilary.
A wonderful gathering and celebration, Juliet - and good news about your manuscript. Spring, it seems, is bringing renewal to your life in all sorts of ways.
Penny, thank you. It was a wonderful celebration and such a relief to have the ms (mostly) out of the way. Renewal is the exact word, in fact it's in the subtitle of my book!
Congrats on getting your manuscript to the designer. Lovely how you're inching forward to the publication date. xx
Charlie, thanks. It's been 3 years' work, all coming to a conclusion now.
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