Upcoming Holy Days - May

There are lots of holy days in May, including Vesak, one of the most important celebrations in the Buddhist tradition. Here’s my 10 Fun Facts about Vesak for Kids post but keep reading for a bit more on some late spring/early summer holidays from other faith traditions.

Beltane (May 1): This important cross-quarter holiday highlights the earth’s vitality and marks the start of the summer season for Wiccans/Neo-Pagans. In the Southern hemisphere, May 1 is Samhain (SOW-in), which marks the start of winter.

12th Day of Ridván (May 1): This Bahá’í holy day marks the end of Baháʼu'lláh’s stay in the garden outside Baghdad after his expulsion from the city. Leanna, who curates All Done Monkey, is a Bahá’í mom who offers great kid resources. Here’s one example. And click here for last year’s May newsletter when we talked about the Declaration of the Báb and shared a great kids’ book for that occasion. 

Laylat al Qadr (≈ May 9): This Islamic holy day is translated as Night of Power. It can occur on any of the odd-numbered nights during the last 10 days of Ramadan. The Shia tradition tends to focus on the 23rd night of Ramadan while the Sunni tradition tends to focus on the 27th night of Ramadan (which is around May 9 this year). The end of the month of Ramadan/the start of the month of Shawwal/Eid al-Fitr will fall on about May 12 this year. Click here for our June 2020 newsletter where we offered several Ramadan/Eid resources for kids. Click here for a nice video with kids from Australia talking about their Eid celebrations. 
 

Shavuot (starts evening, May 16): Shavuot, which commemorates God giving the Torah to the Jewish people, is one of my favorite Jewish holy days. Click here for last year’s newsletter, which offered a brief description and a related kids’ craft. It’s interesting to note that Shavuot is also known as Pentecost, the Greek word meaning “fifty,” because it occurs 50 days after Passover. It’s quite possible that Jesus’ followers were in Jerusalem celebrating Shavuot/Passover when they were visited by the Holy Spirit…making Pentecost an important Christian holy day, as well.
 

Beltane Masks

One prominent Beltane narrative revolves around the Green Man falling in love with the beautiful Queen May. In that story, the Green Man represents Earth’s energy and fecundity, while the May Queen represents the beauty and joy of springtime flora. Their union ushers in the abundance of summer. It’s really easy to make Green Man or Queen May masks. Here’s one approach that we’ve used. 
 

For the Green Man version, we used pre-made plastic masks. Then, we printed out a few leaf templates on various shades of green paper. The kids cut around the leaves and glued them onto the mask. 

For the Queen May version, we used a free internet template that was printed on card stock. Then, we used a hot glue gun to add real petals and leaves. (Hot glue guns don’t work well on pre-made plastic masks!) 

As an added, final touch, we taped a small skewer/dowel as a mask handle.

Happy Spring/Beltane!!

Kids' Book Recommendation

More Reading

Years ago, I attended a Ridván service hosted by our local Bahá’í community. An old Iranian gentleman shared a lovely story with me. Based on the dates and other details, my Bahá’í friends tell me it must have taken place in Akka, Palestine (now Acre, Israel) instead of Baghdad, Iraq, but it’s still a beautiful tale. Click here to read it. 

One of my first articles for The Interfaith Observer was about helping kids connect to the earth using the Pagan Wheel of the Year. Click here for that post which offers several craft and book ideas.  

And don’t forget to like our Faith Seeker Kids FB page where we offer daily information about the global religious landscape and tips for engaging youngsters of all ages!

Thank you all for your support as we completed our 2nd kids book, Embracing Peace. Stay tuned for the official publication date! 

Curriculum Spotlight