Happy May Day

While people protested all over the world today, this "day of the labourer," I spent some time feeling grateful that one of my jobs is unionized, pays well, and I don't have to go in too often to make it work for me. We don't have any big May Day traditions in Canada, so it's kind of a non-event here. Lots of European countries celebrate this as Walpurgis Night, with all sorts of community celebrations happening. On the Celtic calendar, however today is Beltane. For the Celts, this was the official start to summer, when the livestock were let loose for summer grazing, and bonfires were lit for various reasons - cleansing rituals and to represent the light heralding the longer days back to the land, to name two. It's a day for feasting and community, and like the other sabbats, a day that recognizes the powerful aspects of the natural world.

Bearing in mind this day's connection to nature, it is an interesting coincidence that today also saw the giant oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico reach the shores of Louisiana. The devastation will be unspeakable. Here we have the ultimate power struggle: Mother Nature versus Man.

I will always root for Mother Nature, even though we seem so intent on continually kicking her ass.

Thanks to Sharon den Adel of Within Temptation, I now envision Mother Earth as a headbanging metal mamma!

So, in celebration of all things natural and powerful, and in celebration of the coming of summer, the warmth, the longer days, and all the other stuff this season brings, and to show my support and passion for Mother Nature's fight against Man, her nemesis, here is Within Temptation's "Mother Earth."