Another memorable Beltaine

Here are my pictures of this years colossal birthday event. It was so strange to see the mountain covered in lush green leaves, and not just small buds on the trees and barely any grass. I don't remember seeing the ritual circle looking so green - all this rain these past two years has done wonders for the mountain. This was my 11th Beltane - I am getting very used to attending this event now, each of them different but wonderful...

Erecting the marquee

Sunny Saturday visiting the neighbouring campsite of my old friends

The neighbours camp

Our pots of stew bubbling away.

I picked red, pink and white hawthorn for the altar and the maypole

chillin' round the marquee

costumes for the ritual

Michel enjoying the smell of good food

Josie learns her lines for ritual

Members of the Coven of the Eternal Goddess

Andrew, Scarlett, Bev and Kira

Scarlett and Mick

Scarlett plays with my green sequin material

Scarlett as the Nightmare

The Fire birds

The Raven (Me!)

Clive and the Raven

Josie and the Raven

The May Queen and the Raven

Doug

Reuben as the obby oss

The Teaser with the fire birds

Getting ready for ritual

Our fair mountain

My sheep skull Fred got a new feathery hairstyle and LED lights for shiny eyes..

I decorated the maypole on Sunday with the red hawthorn

Looking for people to dance the maypole

The musicians play while the people dance

The Moot begins...

A basenji watches the moot

The final fun for the mount - a witch pinata full of lollies

The maypole gets ready to go away for another 12 months...

The Magical Art of Aaron Pocock

For many, many years I have been a fan of the fantasy artist Arthur Rackham, but recently I have discovered an artist who is wonderfully similar, but still has his own style. I have been privileged to get to know this artist this year, and on facebook he 'wows' his friends everyday by posting up his 'daily sketches' which is does as a morning 'warm-up' before getting to work on the illustrations for his commissioned work.

A few days ago, I asked Aaron Pocock to draw an image for the Mount Franklin Annual Pagan Gathering Blog - a Hawthorn spirit - the hawthorn representing the May, thus representing Beltane.
This is what he did for us.

A hawthorn green man! He kind of looks like a certain member of the Celtic Heritage Society!!

I am now in the process of purchasing this art piece for myself/us to use on our flyer if we choose to, or even on this blog as a logo or mascot perhaps.

To see Aaron's amazing art visit these following websites... or friend him on facebook...

http://aaronpocock.wordpress.com/

http://www.pocockart.com/

http://journeyintofaerie.blogspot.com/

Hawthorn Jelly Recipe

Well Autumn is here, and I have been thinking about preserves and jellies, and I wanted to know more about Haw Jelly. After my other post about the varient Hawthorn blossoms,

http://mountfranklinannualpagangathering.blogspot.com/2010/11/hawthorn-may-tree.html

I could not help but notice the deep red haw berries while out in Central Victoria the other week, and thought I'd look for a recipe that makes Haw jelly.

I have never made this before, indeed I have never made any kind of jams or preserves, I leave that to my mother, but it would indeed be wonderful to be able to have the choice!

It says that with Hawthorn jelly, you can have cheese or meats, maybe like cranberry jelly...

Hawthorn Jelly

Step 1

Find a nice Hawthorn bush (Crataegus monogyna) laden with lovely red haws.

Step 2

Pick 1.5lbs (70 gms) of hawthorn berries (haws). This will make 1 jar of hawthorn jelly, so obviously if you need more jars, pick more fruit.

Make sure that you remove the stalks. A good way is to simply roll a clump of berries (stalks and all) in between your hands, and you’ll find the haws just roll off. It’s certainly easier than individually pulling off each stalk.

Step 3

Now wash your haws and then drain.

Step 4

Put the haws into a heavy saucepan, and cover with 1.5 cups of water.

Step 5

Bring to the boil and simmer for 1 hour. Mash the berries with a potato masher every 20 minutes.

Step 6

Now strain the mixture over night using some muslin or a jelly bag.

To keep the jelly clear do not squeeze the jelly bag, just let the juice drip. If you’re not bothered whether your hawthorn jelly is clear or not then squeeze away.

Step 7

For every 1 pint (570 mls) of juice measure out 1lb (45 gms) of sugar.

Step 8

Now squeeze the juice of 1 lemon.

Step 9

Mix the sugar and lemon juice into a heavy saucepan along with the hawthorn juice. Bring the mixture to the boil, stirring continuously until the sugar has dissolved.

Now rapid boil for 10 minutes until …the jelly has reached setting point. This you can test by letting some cool on a saucer.

Step 10
Now skim off any foam from the top of the jelly liquid, and pour into sterilised, warm jars and screw on the lids.

Eat at will. There is no need to leave the hawthorn jelly for a month or so.

If you want to see image to image instructions, then you can go the website where I got this from - Eat Weeds - 'the Wild food guide to the edible plants of Britain' - http://www.eatweeds.co.uk/hawthorn-jelly-recipe

I am sure the whole website could provide some fascinating recipes if you had a good look...

http://www.eatweeds.co.uk/category/wild-food-recipes

Another website that looks interesting - Hedgerow Recipes - http://www.overthegardengate.net/garden/herbs/reci_hedge.asp where there are many recipes that include ingredients that you can find on the side of the road in rural Australia just as much as you could in rural Britain (this is one case where I don't think 100% badly of the Acclimatisation Society of the 18th and 19th centuries).

There is much to be gained from roadside fruits and flora as we also saw with the Elderflower Champagne recipe posted in late Dec on this blog - http://mountfranklinannualpagangathering.blogspot.com/2010/12/elderflower-champagne.html

and there is nothing better than feeling creative by making something edible from them (providing no poisoning has occurred to the plants - and you must always find out). I always feel when I pass an apple tree in the middle of nowhere, that surely they are here to be collected and used. The possibilities are endless....

The Hawthorn (The May Tree)

Most people know what Hawthorn trees look like. They grace our hedgerows around Central Victoria, and in among the rolling green hills, the area north of Ballarat to Maldon and Daylesford look rather like the hills of England – often European trees are the only trees you see. Hawthorn as a hedgerow is particularly common here. In Autumn, flocks of Crimson Rosella's thrive on the fruit, this year in particular the fruit was so thick that the trees turned completely red.

We all know Hawthorn to be white, don’t we – there is the Common Hawthorn and the double white blossom too – a smaller mini-rose like flower.

Two days ago I drove passed a Red Hawthorn – I had never seen one before! With the amount of Hawthorn around here, you'd think there would be more of them. This one is a stunning specimen. Since then I found a pink and white hawthorn, only down the road from where I am staying. I suppose I don’t notice them so much, as the flowering time of a Hawthorn is rather a short time in Spring – and then it depends how often you get out into the world.

After some research I found the Red Hawthorn (Crataegus Laevigata) 'Paul's Scarlet' – is a magenta/scarlet colour compared to the Crimson Hawthorn.

I had found a ‘Paul’s Scarlet’ double blossom in the Mt Rowan area, just a little north of Ballarat.

Note the double blossoms - a mini-rose shape

The Paul's Scarlet had a pink branch on it too.

On my way home I took photos of a lovely Common Hawthorn (Crataegus Monogyna). Here you can see the flowers are not double.

Note the blossom on the Common White - they don't look like a rose so much.

Then the Pink Hawthorn – I came across the latin name of Crataegus Rosea Flore Pleno, on a plant nursery website.

This one appeared to be on the same tree as a white hawthorn – I am not sure if there are two separate trees – the roadside garden here is too overgrown to tell. Both the white and pink blossoms are double. They were mixed together in a lovely way.

All three colours with their leaves

Hawthorn at Mt Franklin Beltane is usually picked to decorate the maypole, and some people put it over their tent doorways. I recall the story that it is supposed to keep away the fairies. But, as its other name is the ‘May Tree’ it is used to adorn the celebrations of Beltane and May Day all over the world. There are 1 or 2 trees on the road up towards Mt Franklin. However, as most regular attendees of the Beltane gathering will know that the Hawthorn will not flower on Beltane weekend every year. It is considered a blessing to me when it does. Yet, this year it did blossom, after a very wet Winter and Spring!

As there is a lot more information I could have put on here, feel free to write in the comments, more information you know about the May Tree, its myths, properties, anything you know!

Tania