May time when Spring comes into its own. Named after the Goddess Maia, one of the Pleiades sisters, she is the mother of Mercury and Flora.  Blossoms and flowers abound at this time; it’s warmer and everything seems to be new; from tree buds to young birds and animals. The green mist spreading across the countryside in April has settled into vivid and subtle shades of green. 

May Day, celebrated in many cultures and since Pagan times; May 1 was the Roman Goddess Flora’s Festival; many villages and town choose a May Queen, a winsome girl to represent Spring. Maypoles, now mostly gone used to be on every village green, and the villagers would dance round them and weave the ribbons into an intricate pattern.  

During this month, there are two Spring Bank Holidays - first and last Mondays: 5 May and 26 May.  

May birthstones are the Emerald, deep green and often used for engagement rings as it is said to promote constancy and fidelity in marriage.  It was first recorded in Babylon about 4000BC and was reputed to be the favourite stone of Venus.  It’s name comes from Greek smaragdos via the Old French esmeralde meaning quite prosaically green gemstone. The Incas and Aztecs considered them holy gems and the ancient Indians believed they were stones of good luck. 

Emeralds from Zimbabwe are up to 2,600million years old; and belong to the Beryl group of gems, which includes the aquamarine and morganite.  The lesser emeralds are used in tumble, spheres and points. 

Rose quartz is another birthstone for May and is a very pretty semi-precious stone; used both polished and facet cut. It comes in a range of pinks from almost white to deep translucent vivid colour.  As is Chrysoprase, very pretty in a range of spring greens from mint to aqua.

May begins in Taurus and ends in Gemini; and supplementary birthstones for these signs are sapphire and agate (this is such a wide ranging stone that it is possible to have any colour or type), though many also associate the moonstone with Gemini – though this is closer to Cancer.