Sluggy's Pages!

Volume 2, Issue 2 - Eostar 1997

Welcome to Sluggy's Pages. This is Shining Lakes Grove's kids' page. It comes out eight times per year, with information and activities for the young folk and their parents. We encourage you to send us any seasonal stories, poems, art, games or puzzles for us to include in this newsletter. Editor is Mama Moon: (313) 439-0434 or send mail to: 38 Neckel Ct., Milan MI 48160.

LABYRINTH

This is not a maze, this is a labyrinth. It only has one path to follow. Labyrinths are found all over the coasts of northern Europe. The fishermen would run through the labyrinth, as many times as there were loops, in order to give them luck.

A labyritnh can be used for any kind of healing or luck. You can do this one with your finger or a crayon on the page, or by walking the pattern outside once you know it. As you go, think about one thing that you want to take away, such as a cold or fear of the dark, or that you want to get, such as good spelling or strong legs. Stop for a second in the middle, concentrate especially hard, then go back out.

One of my favorite things to do at Spring Equinox, if there is any snow left, is walking a labyrinth in the snow. I leave all my winter grumblies behind, like a new plant leaivng behind its seed-coat.

Lore Corner

• Did you know that the Christian holiday of Easter is named after the Norse festival of Eostre, goddess of Spring and Dawn? The told the people that the rebirth of the "Son" was the same as the rebirth of the Sun in Spring.
• In Welsh, Spring Equinox is called Alban Eiler. In Irish it's Mean Earrach.
• The exact point of the equinox this year was March 20, at 8:55 in the morning. It moves around, between the 20th and the 23rd, from year to year.
• On April 6th, we will set our clocks later by an hour. That's called "Daylight Savings Time." It was created by the US Congress to enable the farmers to start work earlier, the students to study by daylight instead of electric light, and so on. Remember, "Spring ahead, Fall back."
• Only on equinox can you make a raw egg stand on end. The earth's magnetic pull, which makes the tides, is so well balanced that if you set it up just right, the egg will stay throughout Equinox, or so they say. Try it.
• The "March Hare" got its reputation for madness because at this time of year, it is so excited to find a mate, that it can forget all about hiding and being shy, but dances wildly right out in the open. The full moon of this month is called the "hare moon."
• Just as at Imbolc the cows and sheep began to produce milk again, now with the increasing light, the chickens begin to lay eggs again.
• The young people in days past would sometimes go from house to house, "pace egging" - they would sing and dance, and do little plays, and the people of the houses would give them decorated hard boild eggs and new beer.
• At this time of year, we are busily preparing our gardens; choosing and blessing the best seeds, mending and blessing the tools we'll use, digging and turning the plot, hardening off bulbs. The Norse name for Spring means "cold seed time" because we put the seeds in the still-cold ground.
• As the ground begins to warm, the sap rises in the trees, including maple trees. Sugaring season generally happens between Imbolc and Spring Equinox, or a bit longer.

Seed Blessing Song

Blessings on the blossom,
Blessings on the fruit
Blessings on the leaf and stem,
Blessings on the root

Sent in by Timothy, 2nd grade

SPRING MATCH-UP

Draw a line connecting mother, father and baby of the same animal:

Goose           Stallion        Kid

Hen             Stag            Pup

Vixen           Boar            Larvae 

Doe             Bull            Piglet

Mare            Gander          Fawn

Cow             Ram             Foal

Sow             Fox             Chick

Ewe             Rooster         Gosling

Queen           Sire            Lamb

Pistil          Jack            Calf

Dam             Billy           Colt

Jenny           Drone           Seed

Nanny           Stamen          Kid

Beltaine Song

Hey kids, learn this song for Beltaine.

Ribbons weaving in and out
Ribbons weaving as we dance
Ribbons weaving, ribbons weaving,
Round the maypole as we dance.

Spring Word Search

A C V I X E N A T S W T N

P H H N O O M E N S O W E

R I E C N L F E M A L E W

I C C R I V E R A R L L L

L K N O U E R R R G I V I

S S A C Q O T E C A W E F

H P L U E S I W H T Y H E

O I A S L T L O W R S O B

W L B T A A I L I E S U U

E U N L N R T F N E U R N

R T D E R R Y Y D S P S N

W A R M E R D A Y S E N Y

E A L I V E B M A L E W S

Find the hidden words. They can be forwards backwards or diagonal. With the leftover letters, spell out the secret Spring message.

• alive
• ana
• april shower
• balance
• bunny
• chicks
• crocus
• eostar
• equal
• female
• feritility
• fox
• grass
• lamb
• male
• march wind
• may flower
• melts
• moon
• new life
• pussywillow
• river
• sun
• tulips
• trees
• twelve hours
• vernal equinox
• vixen
• warmer days

(Answer at the bottom)

Family Traditions for Beltaine or May Morning

If you can wake up in time for dawn, it's worth seeing the Morris Dancers. They really convey the spirit of the season.

We like to keep a good relationship with the land spirits around our house. This is a good time to go out and talk to them. Thank them for looking after the plants and animals of your yard, and for protecting their house. We generally walk a big circle around the boundaries, as we speak to them, to help them remember the size of the bit we're asking help with. Tell that you know they were hear long before you or your ancestors were, that they are always welcome, and that you will always remember them. You might leave an offering of milk and honey or apples or corn meal or shiny things, on a special stone in a particularly sparkly or mysterious bit of your yard. That will be their own corner, their shrine. Let it be just a bit wild.

Find a hawthorn tree and very carefully bring its branches inside just for Mayday. That's what was meant by "bringing in the May", and the hawthorn is also called the may tree. It's special for the "good folk" (a polite nickname for fairies) and it's only allowed inside the house on this one day.

If you want sweet smelling blossoms in the house for a bit longer, get a branch from an apple tree. The apple is also the fairies' wood, and sacred to Manannan mac Lir besides. You can "force" it: encourage it to bloom, by putting it in a warm, sunny spot in water with a bit of sugar.

Since this time of year belongs to the sidhe most particularly, read fairy tales together, or make some up - tell stories about the gnome in the garden or the flower fairies or the gremlins or whomever you might wish to meet. So many of the traditions we still have from this time of year are about protecting ourselves from the "good neighbors", who can be tricky and scary, we are very lucky to know that we don't have to hide inside after sunset and be afraid, but can make friends with them.

Answer to the word search

The land renews

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