May 2025 Almanac

Eastertide, May baskets, and our festal focus

Ask of her, the mighty mother :
Her reply puts this other
Question : What is Spring?—
Growth in every thing—

Flesh and fleece, fur and feather,
Grass and greenworld all together ;
Star-eyed strawberry-breasted
Throstle above her nested

Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin
Forms and warms the life within ;
And bird and blossom swell
In sod or sheath or shell.

Gerard Manley Hopkins, excerpt from “The May Magnificat”

In each Almanac, you’ll find a ‘book of days’ to track this month’s HF gatherings & resources…a reveal of our monthly in-depth focus…whimsical creations to accompany & inspire us throughout all our May days…and a playlist to serenade.

Consider saving this post to peek back at it throughout the month!

Pax+bonum, Kristin.

• MAY 1 | Thursday | May Day & Feast of Sts Philip & James the Lesser
  » Begin your “May basket” almanac (see below)

  » Print out & set up a whimsical woodland Maypole paper scene!
  

• MAY 6 | Tuesday | Giveaway announced
  

• MAY 12 | Monday | Summer book club launches
  

• WEEK OF MAY 12 | May focus (St. Dunstan) reflections & resources available
  

• MAY 19 | Monday | May focus feast day: St. Dunstan
  

• MAY 23 | Friday at 2 pm Pacific Time | Online gathering with author Sylvie Vanhoozer
  » Join Sylvie as we discuss her book, The Art of Living in Season, her upcoming release, liturgical living, theology of place, and more
  

• MAY 30 | Friday 5 pm Pacific Time | Book club welcome gathering

You can also find this calendar of upcoming events posted in the Village Green

Let’s take the beloved tradition of creating a May basket and use it to mark our days throughout this whole beautiful month.

I made a sweet Marian print for you to use as your basket, and you can fill it with delicate watercolor florals…each one a reminder of a different holy-day during May. By the end of the month, you’ll have a May basket filled with flowers that tell the story of these spring days.

(And, if you want to print out some extra baskets, you could fill them with real flowers to leave on your neighbors’ porches!)

Along with the printable basket and flowers, you’ll find doable prompts and encouragement for ways to celebrate the feast day represented by each flower.

» Available in the Scriptorium for paid subscribers:

Let’s do some spring-cleaning of our souls & our spaces with St. Dunstan this May…this Benedictine monk will help us close out our Eastertide and our spring.

• Reflections, history, folk traditions, art, and more will be available in mid-May

• Paid members will receive a printable cover page and booklet for their liturgical year binders

Thanks so much for sharing in the complex beauty of Eastertide - and this merry month of May! - with me. It’s such a delight getting to create for you and getting to learn alongside you. I’m so looking forward to getting to start a fresh book club season with you this May!

Your support helps to sustain all my research and art that gets poured back into this project, and additionally helps to support other authors, professors, & creatives when they join us as guest speakers. If you’d like to invite a friend along, I’d be so grateful!

Pax et bonum,
Kristin