search on Wind in the Woods Early Music, YouTube
To be on Wind in the Woods Mailing List, or to book the group e-mail Margaret Erin at windinwood@sbcglobal.net
CHECK BACK OFTEN - THE INFORMATION BELOW IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE!
Upcoming
programs and events presented by
Wind
in the Woods Early Music Ensemble
and
others
---------------------------------------------
Wind in the Woods Early Music Ensemble
Medieval
and Renaissance music for
The Merry Month of May
at
3pm Sunday
May 21 2023
The
Piano Preparatory School, 41 Grange Hall Road
(corner of Indian
Ripple Rd.) Beavercreek OH
Most of us today get through the winter well-fed and able to stay warm in our homes. For people in13th to 16th century in Europe however, winter was a time of relentless bitter cold. Houses were poorly insulated with only a wood burning fire for heat, and candles or a rush lamp for relieving the many hours of darkness.
Spring though,
then as now, is a time full of light and the promise of warm days and
new crops. It is a time when flowers blossom, trees are mantled in
green leaves and birds sing. One bird in particular, the Cuckoo, is a
very welcome harbinger of spring. There is a note of warning though
in the cuckoo’s mating call. This bird does, after all lay its
eggs in nests other than its own and as May madness takes hold men
are advised to keep a good eye on their wives and sweethearts. On the
other hand in “Winter now your end is near” there is a
cautionary note of a different sort - “Girls take warning while
you May, let no man defeat you.”
From
all the songs, pictures, poetry, stories and customs of
medieval/renaissance Europe, it is clear that a great sense of joy
and even giddiness prevailed by the time May arrived. In fact one of
the songs in our program is entitled “O Lusty May.” Of
course the meaning of the word “lusty” in those times had
more to do with an exuberant fullness of life. Many of the retained
elements of old pagan customs stressed fertility, rebirth and
renewal. These customs were enthusiastically celebrated by young men
and women who were, after the long winter, full of suppressed energy
and certainly experiencing the same urges as the birds and bees. On
the eve of Mayday girls went wandering in the woods, for if they
slept there they would surely dream of the young men destined to
become their husbands. Then, in the morning, they washed their faces
in the morning dew which would enhance their beauty. Others went
“a-Maying” for mayflower branches to decorate their homes
and for flowers to weave into the garlands which would be used to
crown the Mayday King and Queen. The happy culmination of all these
festivities came as everyone danced with delight around the Maypole.
Margaret Erin