The English called May Þrimilcemōnaþ (Thrice-Milk-Month). According to Bede -

...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.

'..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.

Tonight my family hearth will honour Bældæg (an English name for the god Baldur) as part of our May Day rites. Rudolf Simek claimed Bældæg meant 'shining day', from the OE bæl ‘fire’ and dæg ‘day’. This idea fits with Grimm’s own view that the German fire celebrations of May Day were associated with Pholtag – Phol (Baldur) and tag (day). Grimm also claimed the month of May was called Phol-mânôt ‘Phol’s month’ in parts of Germany.

In England Balderesleg (Baldur’s clearing) and Polesleah (Phol’s clearing) were two names for the same Yorkshire village, showing different names for the same god.

The ritual May Day fires are the Need fires which were lit using friction. Cattle were drove between the fires to cleanse them of disease and ill fortune.

Hāl Bældæg!

When King Halfdan II died of disease he was summoned by Hel to face his judgement, but it was Woden who chaired the Thing and decided his fate.

By Hel's summons, a great king
Was called away to Odin's Thing:
King Halfdan, he who dwelt of late
At Holtar, must obey grim Fate.
At Borre, in the royal mound,
They laid the hero in the ground.

Image - Burial mounds at Borre, the Borrehaugene.

If the English had a separate name for Earth Mother in her harvest aspect, this might have been a name formed from the verbs gifan, to give, or gifian, to bestow gifts, such as Giefu, grace, favour; Gifole, generous, bountiful; Gifiende, bestowing gifts. Such a name would be related to the Norse Gefn, giver, a by-name of Freya and to Gefjon, the giving one.

- Kathleen Herbert 'Looking for the Lost gods of England'

Artwork 'gyfu rune' by Brian Partridge

The Prose Edda describes Gefjon as a virgin, however it also suggests that the four oxen she uses to pull her plough are also her sons, fathered by an unnamed Eoten. The OE cognate is Geofon, which is a kenning for the ocean or sea (Geofenes begang or Gefjon's realm), her name appearing in Beowulf, ‘Geofon ȳðum wēol’, ‘Gefion welled up in waves’.

Image - the Gefionspringvandet or Gefjon Fountain, Denmark.

The Old English term grǣg-hama meant grey-coated or grey-cloaked and was a kenning for a wolf. Tolkien later used the term as a name for Gandalf Greyhame.

As part of our soul, the hama appears as a spiritual covering which is projected outward. It is essentially our true form and can leave the body. This spiritual travel was known in ON as Hamfor ‘The journey of the hamr’, reconstructed into OE as *hamafōr. Hama (not to be confused with Hāma, the English name for Heimdallr) comes from the Proto-Germanic *hamô and is found in the OE words ċildhama ‘the womb’ and lichama ‘corpse’ (‘lic’ meaning dead).

One of two rare Anglo Saxon glass 'drinking horns’ found in 1937 in Rainham (Havering London). Only three have ever been found in England.

photo by Hāmasson

Author Jim Leary suggests that the top of Silbury Hill was flattened by the Anglo-Saxons who used the site as a defensive position, with archaeological evidence of post holes found on the top, supporting the idea. In the photo above (taken by myself when my daughter and I last visited the site) you can see the top of the burgh is flat. The name Silbury was recorded as Seleburgh (around the year 1200). 'Sele' was OE for hall, whilst bury came from burgh or burg. The name certainly suggests there was once a structure on top of the hill.

The Nebenstedt bracteate (128b) contains runes that read ‘glïaugiR uïu rnR’ which are interpreted as meaning ‘glowing eye consecrates the runes’. ‘Glowing eye’ is a kenning for Woden, who also used the bynames Báleygr or Flaming Eye and Bileygr, Flashing Eye.

Art by AuthenticProduct

The battle frenzy was come upon the Friend of the Raven. He was no more the gray-bearded husband of Frig, but Grim, the Masked One. The All-father, host of the Hall of Happiness, had donned a different aspect. Now was he Fire-eyed, the Evildoer, Blind, Double-blind. Out of decay arises growth; from destruction, rebirth; from fire, fertilization. The god bears more than one face, though he be one behind the masks.

- The Coming of the King by Nikolai Tolstoy,
- Art by Arthur Rackham.

We’ve had three swarms of bees fly over our garden in the last few days. An OE kenning for bees was the Victory-women or Sīgewīf and Jacob Grimm compared the sting of the bee with the sword of the Wælcyrian, though in truth, bees are at their most placid whilst swarming. In folklore the buzzing of a swarm indicated that the goddess Frēo was nearby. There is an OE charm which was meant to prevent bees from swarming;

Sitte ge, sīgewīf, sīgað tō eorðan,
næfre ge wilde tō wuda fleogan,
beō ge swā gemindige, mīnes gōdes,
swā bið manna gehwilc, metes and ēðeles.

Settle down, victory-women, sink to earth,
never be wild and fly to the woods.
Be as mindful of my welfare,
as is each man of border and of home.

It’s the May full moon tonight and as usual my family hearth will be holding rites. Grimm believed that May was associated with Bældæg (ON Baldur) and was even called Phol-mânôt, Phol being another name for Bældæg.

May is also the month when our hearth honours Béowa and Béole, who appear in the Lokasenna as Byggvir and Beyla, both servants of Fréa. Béowa means barley but he has been connected to Beowulf (Bee-wolf or Barley-wolf) whilst Béole could be from baun (*baunilo) ‘bean’ or *biuilo meaning bee, which is the more common interpretation of her name.

Wes hāl Béowa, Wes hāl Béole!

I have ne'er heard of
Men so mighty of muscle and valor,
Earls so eminent, as the atheling-brothers,
Hengist and Horsa, heroes of Anglia,
Lords of the mainland. The lay of the gleeman
Is full of their fame. Far 'mid the races,
The minstrel's song, swelling to heavenward,
Tells of the splendid, spacious, audacious
Deeds of those daring, doughty, invincible
Fathers of freedom who fared o'er the waters
Hither to England, and here builded them
A kingdom so mighty that men cannot shake it,
And hell cannot take it...

- John Lesslie Hall 'The Calling of Hengist and Horsa' 1899
- image by artist John Karst

'The world is changing: I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, and I smell it in the air.'

- Treebeard from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.