Saint Brendan's Day

May 16 is St. Brendan's Day. St. Brendan is known as the Navigator or the Voyager. The Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis (the Voyage of St Brendan the Abbot) was written in the Middle Ages and presumed to be legend. In the 1970s Tim Severin recreated Brendan's voyage in a leather curragh and reached Newfoundland; he wrote about in The Brendan Voyage.

May we take inspiration from Saint Brendan as we navigate our way through this world.

About Saint Brendan

An English translation of the Navigatio sancti Brendani Abbatis

Mother's Day Peace Star

This Mother's Day project has its roots in the earliest Mother's Day celebrations in the United States which were a reaction to the carnage of the Civil War by women who had lost their sons. Julia Ward Howe wrote this Mother's Day Proclamation in 1870. I used Peace Stars that I originally created for a Peace Star Accordion Book. Peace is written in different languages which reflects the global nature of our current striving for peace.

MAKING THE PEACE STAR

You'll need 2 CDs, a piece of ribbon, peace star patterns or your own designs, white glue, and a glue stick.

Put white glue on the label side of one CD. Fold a piece of ribbon in half, lay it in the center of the CD with the fold above the CD to form a loop for hanging.


2. Place the second CD on top, shiny side up. It is helpful if you (gently so you don't shift the CDs) put a weight on it (I used a couple of books) while it is drying.


3. Cut out, decorate, and color two of the peace stars from the pattern or create your own. Glue one on each side of the CD. I find it best to use glue stick for this.

May Basket

May Day is the first day of summer on the Celtic calendar and the real beginning of spring in New England. We celebrate it with a trip to Cambridge MA for May Day festivities where there is singing, dancing, Morris dancers, and a Maypole. On the years when I rise early enough, I deliver May baskets to friends' doors before we leave.

MAKING THE BASKET

You'll need three rectangular pieces of paper (I used pages from a catalog) and a glue stick. Start by gluing two pages together to make a more sturdy basket.

1. Fold the paper in half the long way. When I teach kids bookmaking I say we are folding it like a hot dog. If your paper is different on each side, the one you want on the outside of the basket should be on the outside when you make the fold.




2. Open the paper and fold each side in to meet the middle.


3. Open the paper and fold in half the other way, like a hamburger.


4. Fold each side in to meet the middle.


5. Fold a triangle in each corner by bringing the side edge to meet the fold.


6. At the top of the triangles, fold the edges down to make long narrow rectangles.



7. Put your hands at the corners and raise up the side of the basket one side at a time.



8. Make a handle by
tearing or cutting the last piece of paper in half the long way,
folding it in half the long way
opening it and folding each side in to meet the middle,
putting glue on one side and closing it to make a narrow strip.

9. Glue the handle to the sides of the basket.

10. Put plastic inside the basket (I cut up a plastic bag), fill it with dirt and a plant (mine is a traditional May plant, sweet woodruff). You can also fill it with candy or other treats.

May Day in Padstow

My favorite May Day song is "Unite and unite" which comes from the Padstow May Day celebration in Cornwall.

Here's a BBC overview of May Day in Padstow.


And here's a long sequence of photos, both old and new, set to Unite and Unite. It's a long segment. I watched it once and then went back and listened to the music several times.

St. George's Day

is April 23rd. He is the patron saint of several countries including Catalonia in Spain, England, Portugal, Georgia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Republic of Macedonia. St. George's Day in Catalonia is especially rich as it celebrates three things: St. George who fought and slayed the dragon and the day of the deaths of Miguel Cervantes and William Shakespeare (April 23, 1616). Boys and men give their girlfriends and wives roses; girls and women give their boyfriends and husbands books.

MAKING THE BOOK

You'll need two pieces of paper (it's okay if they have writing on one side), a piece of ribbon or yarn (mine was left over from an chocolate Easter bunny package), a glue stick, a piece of scrap paper, and assorted decorative paper scraps for collage. A piece of candy wrapper foil or a bead for the end of the bookmark is an optional extra.




Follow the directions to make two hot dog booklets.



Insert a piece of scrap paper under the first page of one booklet. Cover the entire surface with glue. Place a piece of ribbon on the top of the book along the spine with the ribbon extending up beyond the book. This will be the bookmark.



Place the other booklet on top lining up the spines. Rub your hand over the surface to help the glue adhere.

Glue assorted pieces of cut and torn paper to the front and the back to make covers. Start with a not too small piece and wrap it around the spine.



Continue gluing on pieces until the front and back are covered.



As an extra touch, wrap a piece of foil from candy around the end of the ribbon or tie a bead to the end. It is helpful but not necessary to place the book under a heavy book or other weight for a few hours.




MAKING A PAPER ROSE

Use a rectangular piece of paper for the rose. I used newspaper (1/4 of a page made by folding the paper in half and tearing it, then tearing the half in half). I used a peppermint tea bag package for the stem. The leaf was cut from a mint medley tea bag package and held in place with a green elastic from vegetables.



Fold the newspaper piece in half to make a long rectangle

Roll it tightly around your index finger once and then more loosely around until the paper is all wrapped

Twist the bottom tightly.

Place the end in the open part of a tea bag package or wrap the bottom of the rose with green paper

Cut a leaf shape with a small stem.

Place the leaf stem on the stem and bind together with a green elastic.


Read the legend of St. George and the Dragon as written by Agnes Grozier Herbertson in London in 1908 here.

April

Of all the poetry I was required to memorize in school, this short bit from the Prologue of the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer is only thing I still remember. I always think of it when April comes especially when rain is falling. You can hear the Middle English being read here and read a translation into contemporary English here.

About the Creative Year

Three things that many of us can say about our lives are:
We consume too much
We create too little
We are losing our connection to the seasons

The Creative Year aims to take a small step toward righting these wrongs by making things with seasonal significance using recycled and reused household materials. I believe that everyone is creative and everyone has a need to create. Creative has become a word with value judgements. If you are creative, you make things that are beautiful or original. I take a more basic view, to be creative is to make things.

Random House Unabridged Dictionary
creative: having the power and quality of creating
create: to cause something to come into being

The Creative Year is not about making art; it is not about making keepers. In my many years as an artist, I have learned that the process is more important the finished product. The true life is in the work itself. Make something, enjoy it, and when its time and purpose in your life has passed, pass it along or recycle it.