Born in May

The name and the season

May is usually derived from Maia, a Roman goddess of growth who was later identified with the Greek Maia, mother of Hermes; the Roman poet Ovid also offers an explanation from maiores, 'the elders', paired with June for the iuniores, 'the young'. The Anglo-Saxons, Bede tells us, called it Thrimilci, the month when cows could be milked three times a day in the rich spring grass. In the northern hemisphere it is the high tide of spring, when hawthorn blossom, called simply 'may' in English, covers the hedgerows.

Festivals and folklore

May Day on 1 May has been celebrated across Europe with maypoles, garlands, the crowning of a May Queen and the gathering of greenery at dawn, and in Gaelic lands as Beltane, a fire festival that began the summer half of the year (see the Wheel of the Year). Washing the face in May-morning dew was said to bring beauty. The Romans celebrated the Floralia for the flower goddess Flora at the turn of April and May, and kept the Lemuria on 9, 11 and 13 May to placate restless spirits of the dead, which led Ovid to report that May was an unlucky month for weddings, an idea echoed by the English proverb 'marry in May and rue the day'. In Catholic devotion May is the month of Mary, with processions and May altars. Since the late nineteenth century 1 May has also been International Workers' Day.

Birthstone and birth flower

The emerald, the green variety of beryl, is May's stone in the modern list and in most traditional ones, some of which also give agate. Its intense green made it a natural emblem of spring and rebirth; Roman writers believed its colour rested tired eyes, and medieval lapidaries linked it with chastity, foresight and faithful love. The month's flowers are the lily of the valley, which the Victorians read as the return of happiness, and the hawthorn, a symbol of hope and, in Irish and British folklore, a fairy tree that should not be cut or brought indoors.

Traits tradition gives to people born this month

May is shared by Taurus and Gemini, and popular portraits of May-born people mix earth and air. They are traditionally described as warm, sociable and appreciative of beauty, with practical good sense on one side and lively curiosity and wit on the other. Almanacs credit them with charm and persuasiveness but warn of stubbornness in some and restlessness in others. These are folk and astrological associations; scientific studies have not found birth month or sign to predict personality.