Bringing In the May

Alane was kind enough to ask me to be a guest writer, once again, for these blogs. In her request she wanted to know how my Beltane song Bringing in the May came about. I answered that I’d like to know that TOO and grinned.

It’s is on my album Welcome to Annwfn. Here it is for your listening pleasure:

As for the mechanics of how…my standard chant processing was in force for this song as well (see “We Are a Circle” post from last year) and I channeled this one while driving to and from a gig in Northern California.

It occurred to me that parts of the song were based in experiential history, but some of the phrases were prescient. I’ve always felt that musicians were time travelers… if they weren’t, how can jamming musicians just feel where and when to change and do it like a flock of birds in flight? It takes time for the brain to send messages to the fingers to make notes or rhythms happen and, when the band clicks and they all hit the same changes and chords at the same time it is evidence that 1) our brains were synced up because they were not separate from each other and/or 2) we had either agreed, psychically to perform this musical maneuver in the past and our fingers were just catching up or we were time tripping into the reality that the music was becoming and re-membered it from that future but just enough in the past to have our fingers strike at the crucial moment. But I digress…

Much of the inspiration for this piece was founded in my experiences at Annwfn.

As I prepared to write, I took on much of that same process trusting that the result would be as clear and easy as writing songs… much to my astonishment, it was not 😊

But a structure did present itself… here’s where it went:

Verse 1

If you survive the night of madness…
If you survive its crazy spin…
Then you shall dance around the pole
Take what’s tattered make it whole
And the pattern of the world you weave
Before you will unfold
Bringing in the May (times 4)

Sometimes festivals occur on the New Moon… and those things which would otherwise be obvious are now hidden from view. As the veil between the worlds becomes thinner, there is sometimes just enough light to see through to the other side and for some things to cross over.

It was on one of these dark festival nights that I found myself at the bottom of a hill without a way to make light. The way up the trail was lined by ditches and some pieces of log and slash. Not a pretty thing to fall into. I’d be lucky to only sprain an ankle. I was kind of anxious and looking for help.

Suddenly, I sensed a crowd and the sound of cloven hooves on the ground. It was a familiar feeling…

Once, at a midnight star walk up in Tuolumne meadows, the group we were in merged with a group of deer moving in our general direction, but across our path, diagonally. Since we were on a star walk, my mind instantly leapt to the image of galaxies passing through each other. We all knew where the others were, we all took care not to step on each other, some jostling was unavoidable. The highlight of the tour… the ranger was certainly amazed and in awe… but I digress…

The surrounding hoofed beings began to giggle, and I was reminded that Annwfn was not only a deer sanctuary, but a Faerie sanctuary as well… the Fae folk were never too far away.

Then the avoidable jostling began to occur… I was pushed one way and pushed another. I tried to walk up the hill to my goal but was afraid to stumble off into the ditch. I became more and more anxious and finally spoke out “You’re scaring me and all I want to do is get up this hill safely”.

A calm and stern presence cast a silence over the crowd. Something gripped my overcoat, spun me around halfway and dragged me up the hill at a quick march. There I was, in front of the cabin I had hoped to reach, safe, sound, shaken nonetheless.

Verse 2

And now the quarters we must cross
Between the equal and extreme.
We know the Morris dance is done
So that all can feel the Sun
As it penetrates our flesh and blood
And Spirit made as one
Bringing in the May (times 4)

Inspiration Point, in the Berkeley Hills, has long been a gathering place for sunrise rituals. Having known members of Berkely and East Bay Morris troops, I had an affinity for being with them on May Morn, when possible.

For much of my life I rode motorcycles. These May mornings were just the right combination of cool crisp air and winding narrow roads up the mountain. Preparing for a ritual of any kind requires focus and commitment in order to achieve the best results from the work and riding a motorcycle, with a passenger, focuses the mind and the senses like nothing else.

The visceral feel of the road and the grains of sand or gravel pushing the rubber away from the road. The tire slips, but in a well-known way and balance cries out to be maintained. Mind and body merge with nerve and muscle memory… being completely open to the experience and a sense of your own makes a fluid connection for the adjustments necessary and it happens without your conscious mind getting in the way. A perfect meditation for the ritual of Morris dancing to drum up the sun.

But I digress…

Mayday Morns were a large gathering of musicians, dancers, and attendees. Voices rang in song and a healthy dose of drumming never failed to push the dancers through their patterns weaving up a sunrise. It takes hours from false dawn to actual sunrise, an intriguing stretch of timesense that is unlike any other except the rising of the sun following an all night ritual… Someday, I may know what it’s like to drum and dance up the sun following an all-nighter… that would be epic indeed.

Verse 3

A living Circle cast in Love
with friends and strangers as one Voice.
A bond that’s stronger far than steel.
We project an Ancient Will
Sending power all around the world:
Protect, Renew and Heal!
Bringing in the May (times 4)

“Bringing in the May” Copyright 1986 by Rick Hamouris. All Rights Reserved. Permission Upon Request.

I had the honor, in the years after this song was written, to work with Sensei Seichi Tanaka, Founder of the San Francisco Taiko Dojo. Tanaka Sensei and I had established a certain friendship and I asked him to accompany me to Annwfn for a 3-day Beltane ritual. I was thrilled when he accepted and thought of how far our relationship had come since I first set foot in his dojo.

Life with the Taiko Dojo was challenging and rewarding. It was the best paying band I’d ever been in and it was more than a band. Taiko Dojo was a martial arts form, a corps of drummers, and a dance troupe in one. Among other venues, we gigged at hotel openings and performed before a jewel bedecked, capacity crowd at the San Francisco Opera House.

We trained hard… you’ll never know how long a minute can be until you have to go toe to toe with a 6-foot diameter taiko drum for 60 flat-out seconds. We did sit-ups… and pushups… and at any time Sensei could look at you during practice and it was your turn to drop and produce either 500 sit-ups or pushups… your choice. The entire troupe would chant from 1 to 10, in Japanese, until the number was complete. All the energy of the troupe was projected into the single performer of the activity and the results were palpable. My son (a 6’5” football player of 350 lbs.) after I related this to him simply said “Pops, that’s impossible) and yet here I stand, filled with memories of many of us performing this centering and focusing ritual multiple times a year. But I digress…

Tanaka Sensei arrived at the ritual grounds in late afternoon. The Priestess and I were setting up for the Walpurgisnacht (The Night of Madness) ritual that evening. A friend of ours sidled up to Sensei and brandished a bottle of fine white sake for his approval. Sensei was treated, and respected, like the honored guest and Taiko Master he was and seeing the community gather around and take care of my mentor and friend was a welcome gift.

As we gathered the 100 people for the ritual, we made sure the taiko drums and Japanese White Oak sticks were ready. After the quarters were all called, it was time to close the circle (I always hear circuit) and so, it was our turn to complete the circle casting. The piece we used was “Hiryu Sandan Gaeshi”. Sensei explained that the piece was meant to draw down the dragon to fly around the village 3 times and “turn Trouble to Happy”.

We began playing and the crowd became energized. As we approached the climax of the piece, we danced around the drums playing the bridge and the crowd exploded. The burst of energy nearly took my breath away. The charge was powerful. As the piece came to an end, the crowd once more cheered as one voice and I could feel the circle casting had been effective.

Tanaka Sensei had a wonderful time and related his experience to the troop at the next taiko practice. He related how, in the hours of the night-long circle, that he played Lone Wolf… circling and observing… One of his observations that I looked and sounded like Richard Burton drew appropriate laughter from the group. Then he announced that thing which has resonated for me ever since: It was the first time, in the 26 years since he had brought Taiko to the United States, that he’d felt the force of the goddess rise through the Earth and into his feet and arms… that SHE was playing the drums and not us.

Perhaps we can all use the call to turn Trouble to Happy in these times…

The chant that is in Bringing in the May is attributed to Candace Haddad. Anodea Judith began chanting it during one Beltane festival campfire and it stuck 🙂 It can be chanted at the end of Bringing in the May and fall into a drum circle… a great way to invoke the entry into the Night of Madness…

Cauldron of Changes
Blossom of Bone
Arc of Eternity
Hole in the Stone

“Cauldron of Changes” chant by Candace Haddad.

Here’s wishing you a blessed Beltane and a Merry May!

cover photo of spring flowers at sunrise by Simon Berger