Pagans in May celebrate a number of holidays that signify the arrival of spring and the renewal of life. One of the most well-known celebrations is Beltane, held on May 1st. Beltane is a fire festival, where bonfires are lit to symbolize purification and ward off evil spirits. People would often dance around the fire and jump over it to bring luck and fertility to their lives and crops. Another significant pagan holiday in May is the celebration of the coming of spring and the fertility of the land. This holiday is known by different names, such as May Day or Maypole Day, and is celebrated in many countries around the world.
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The Sport of Writing by Nnedi Okorafor
Originally published in Writers of the Future Volume 29, this article written by Nnedi Okorafor provides useful writing tips on how to start writing and even more specifically how to start a story. She discusses her personal story beginning with a career as a professional tennis player and how this provided her greatest writing lesson learned. Nnedi explains the battle she fights when beginning a new story, when facing the dreaded blank page and her ultimate triumph that has made her one of today’s most successful fantasy writers.
“The Writers of the Future experience played a pivotal role during a most impressionable time in my writing career. Everyone was so welcoming. And afterwards, the WotF folks were always around when I had questions or needed help. It was all far more than a mere writing contest.” —Nnedi Okorafor
When I was sixteen years old, I learned one of the greatest lessons I could learn as a writer. This was four years before I wrote my first creative work, so I didn’t know this at the time. I was barely paying attention, really. I was too busy trying to win. I was in San Diego, California on the hot tennis court, Wilson tennis racquet in hand, Reebok tennis shoes on my feet. These were from my corporate sponsors, but I loved their products, too.
I was playing in one of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) junior national tournaments. These were where the top young players in the country battled it out. I wasn’t a top seed. Neither was my opponent. I don’t even remember her name. However, she and I were evenly matched and for this reason, our match was long. Where most tennis matches took about an hour, ours had stretched to five and a half.
I’d lost the first set 6–7, won the second set 7–6 and because of this, we had to play a third. The score was 6–6 and we were playing a tiebreaker. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky or a person on the sidelines. We had no audience. Both of us had flown to California alone, so neither of us had parents there to watch.
Regardless, we were two teenagers at war, slugging that ball back and forth, diving for drop-shots, acing serves, really digging into the root of the sport.
All the other girls had finished playing their matches. Everyone but the officials at the front desk had gone home for the day. Finally, after about five hours and forty-five minutes, I won the match. There was no burst of applause. I hadn’t advanced to any namable position like the finals or the semifinals. I didn’t scream or fall to my knees with elation. And if I had, there was no photographer to catch that moment.
Nevertheless, I felt I’d reached the top of Mount Kilimanjaro; I experienced the purest form of success. This had nothing to do with winning and everything to do with loving the game and playing it well after being blessed with a formidable opponent. She and I shook hands and then sat in the shade and drank lots of water. We didn’t talk. We had nothing to say. We went to the front desk and reported our score. That was it.
Nearly a decade passed before I realized the lesson in this experience. Just as in sports, when writing creatively, if you don’t love the craft and art of it, you’ll never experience this pure form of success. Yet when you do have this love, you realize that pure success does not come from fame or fortune, it grows from that love.
Too often athletes and writers are seen as being on opposite sides of the spectrum, culturally, socially and in practice. The seed of this separation is planted early. In elementary and high school, there are “the jocks” who are the athletes and “the nerds” who are the academics (this group more often than not includes those who seek to and will become creative writers). Writers are stereotyped as sedentary people who loathe exercise; their movement is in their heads. Athletes are stereotyped as being anything but academics and thinkers. It is brains versus brawn.
This holiday is known by different names, such as May Day or Maypole Day, and is celebrated in many countries around the world. The Maypole, a tall decorated pole, is the centerpiece of the festivities. People would dance around the Maypole, intertwining ribbons as they go, creating a beautiful pattern.
How to Start Writing
Both groups miss out on valuable lessons by being so separated. The fact is that there are many parallels between the worlds of sports and creative writing. In my experience, they are nearly interchangeable. They are both forms of craft and art. Since I am speaking to writers, I’d like to share some of the lessons I learned from sports that are perfectly applicable to writing.
One of the greatest lessons is how to gracefully, bravely face fear. I remember vividly those matches where I had to play against someone ranked just below me. These were matches where I had nothing to gain and everything to lose. One of the unique things about tennis is that it is a very mental sport. The best player does not always win. All it takes is a small distraction and next thing you know, you’ve lost.
For example, I was playing a girl in a tournament when I was about fourteen. I was winning easily. I’d won the first set 6–2 and I was up 5–3. I was about to wrap things up. Then during one of the changeovers (every two games you switch sides), I noticed her left hand. It was prosthetic. I was only about fourteen years old and this killed my concentration. I went on to lose the match because I couldn’t stop looking at her hand and marveling at the fact that she could compensate so well.
Loss of concentration is not the only type of mental struggle when playing someone ranked below you. I was immature and highly competitive and such matches sparked sharp nervous fear. Despite this, I had to go out there. The walk out to the court was like a death sentence. The warm-up was torture. When I began playing the first point, I would find that I had to either curl up and lose or stand up and fight.
This is a battle I fight when beginning a new story when facing the dreaded blank page. There’s a voice in my head saying, “There’s nothing there! How can you create something from nothing? Where do I begin? There’s no instruction manual or guide I can Google.” That blank page is like the opponent who has everything to gain from me and nothing to lose.
Though I feel this fear every time, I have never walked away from it. I stand and face the monster, then I dance with it and it is exhilarating. “If you fear something you give it power over you,” says a North African proverb. And if you conquer that fear, you are rewarded with power and joy.
For one year, between the high school tennis season and my first (and only) year playing college tennis, I joined my high school’s track team. I went on to win over twenty-two medals and compete and place in the state championship in multiple events. My best event was the 400m. This race was once around the track; it is the longest sprint. Whenever I ran this race, something peculiar happened. I’d black out from the hundred-meter mark to the three-hundred-meter mark. Then I’d return to myself in that last hundred meters. The sound of the crowd would burst back into my ears as if it had been on mute and I’d speed up all the way to the finish line.
In addition to Beltane and May Day, pagans also celebrate other holidays in May that focus on the natural world and its cycles. One such holiday is Floralia, a festival dedicated to the goddess of flowers and the arrival of spring. During Floralia, people would adorn themselves with colorful flower crowns and gather in gardens to appreciate the beauty of nature. Another pagan holiday in May is Walpurgis Night, celebrated on the eve of May 1st. It is believed to be a night when witches and evil spirits are at their most powerful. To ward off these spirits, people would light bonfires and make loud noises to scare them away. Overall, pagans in May celebrate the arrival of spring and the flourishing of life through various holidays and traditions. These celebrations serve as reminders of the natural cycles that govern the Earth and the importance of honoring and respecting mother nature..
Reviews for "May Poetry and Art: Expressions of Pagan Spirituality"
1. Jennifer - 1 star
I was extremely disappointed with "Psgan holidays in mzy". The plot was confusing and disjointed, making it difficult to follow along. The characters were one-dimensional and lacked depth, making it impossible to connect with them or care about their stories. The writing itself was sloppy and riddled with grammatical errors, which made it a struggle to read. Overall, this book was a complete waste of time and I would not recommend it to anyone.
2. Mark - 2 stars
I had high hopes for "Psgan holidays in mzy" based on the book description, but it fell short of my expectations. The story lacked originality and felt like a mishmash of clichéd ideas. The pacing was uneven, with the first half dragging on and the second half feeling rushed and unresolved. The dialogue was stilted and unrealistic, making it difficult to fully engage with the characters. While there were a few interesting moments, they were overshadowed by the overall mediocrity of the book.
3. Sarah - 1 star
"Psgan holidays in mzy" was a complete letdown. The writing was clunky and filled with unnecessary tangents that added nothing to the story. The world-building was poorly executed, leaving me with more questions than answers. The characters were unlikable and lacked any redeeming qualities. The plot was predictable and offered no surprises or twists. I struggled to finish this book and would not recommend it to anyone looking for a compelling and well-written story.