Ozark Gods of May Day

The full flourishing of spring has come to the Ozarks, “High Spring” as some call it; May Day. Of all the flowers and fauna of the region, I would say that the Dogwood bloom embodies the season best, though we’re seeing the last of that flowering, as we roll up the path to summer’s door. Of course, we know that the Dogwood is the flower of Snawfus— our Forest King has ever-blooming Dogwood branches in place of antlers. 

In looking at similar gods in cultures related to ours, we find Buschmops/Waldmops, the “Forest Dwarf” of Pennsylvania Dutch lore. He can turn himself into a white deer with gold antlers. He is also associated with snakes; a large horntail snake is his protector, and like our legend of the hoop snake, it curls around like an ouroboros and rolls to chase away intruders. I used to think this legend was unique to the Ozarks, but in Deitsch lore, a snake of this description defends their Forest King. Perhaps there is a lost connection to our Deer God as well.

In historical depictions, Cernunnos is depicted holding a snake in one hand. We don’t have original mythology for Cernunnos, nor even his actual name. His roles and symbols may have been absorbed by gods such as Lúgh and Odin. Elsewhere, he carried on in so many regional forest fairy traditions, scattered far and wide.

The consort of the Buschmops is a Fairy Queen named Schlangefraa, the Snake Lady. She is a healing goddess who uses herbs and plants. She carries a snake in her apron pocket and wields it like a wand to cast spells. The folklore also credits her with giving Brauchers (who were called Power Doctors in the Ozarks) their healing power. In her stories, she can transform into a rabbit and rise into the sky to become the morning star. Her fairy children were said to be born out of blue or green-shelled eggs.

Many of these traits may point to her origins as the Celtic Sironâ, a goddess depicted with a snake coiled around her arm and holding a plate of eggs, symbols of healing, regeneration, and rebirth. Evidence of her worship has been found mainly in Gaul and Germanic areas of Europe, so the legends of Schlangefraa may be a cultural memory of Sironâ. Her temples were constructed around thermal springs or wells; waters of healing. In our Ozarks culture, we find this idea of healing waters reflected in the custom of collecting May water and dew for healing and magic.

It seems fitting for the “Snake Lady” to fill a missing piece in an Ozark pantheon. Is it strange that it seems to me like she has always been there? Perhaps I’m thinking of the statue of Mary “Lady of the Smile” at that little old church in Brentwood. Though the depictions of Mary with a snake all have the snake under her feet like she’s defeating it. However, when you look closely at some of these, the snake doesn’t seem harmed at all. There’s also stars around her head, adding more of the Snake Goddess imagery. I think there’s something to the idea that the Romans intentionally created Christianity, to make a universal religion (but also for peace, control…), and it’s true that Gnostic traditions used a lot of snake symbolism. I suppose Schlangefraa could also be associated with the Gnostic goddess Sophia. Either way, she belongs here.

So on May Day, as we wash in May morning dew (or collect it in a handkerchief) may we thank the ancient Snake Goddess for its powers, and as we set out toward the woods, may we know our Forest King carries on a powerful presence that echoes into a far distant past.

May we honor these, our own Fairy King and Queen and all their Nature Spirit kin– for healing, for love, for joy and connection– in this and every season.

Snawfus & the Dogwood Tree

The Ozarks is home to a giant white deer-like creature with blooming dogwood branches growing from his head instead of antlers. The blue haze that hangs over the Ozark Mountains in the early mornings, and especially in fall and winter, is his spiraling exhalations. 

The Snawfus is also said to have the ability to fly and leap into the trees. In a lot of the lore, it’s not because he has wings, but more like he has the agility of a primate. Because of this, the Snawfus is sometimes depicted as a tall man with a deer head (though I’ve rarely come across this depiction– it may be a later idea). 

Crossing paths with the Snawfus is considered a token (sign) of imminent death. But most likely, you will never see him. He will run in circles around you, just out of sight, as you walk through the woods. You may hear the birdsong in his branches, or even catch a glimpse of a dogwood petal, but you won’t see him unless he wants you to. And you may be encircled in the haze of his blue misty breath until you see nothing else.

In Ozark lore, white animals are regarded as an ominous omen. I think that this may have been a cultural memory of the caution and respect afforded to Otherworld creatures. In Celtic lore, Otherworldly creatures are white with red or pink ears, and sometimes red or pink eyes. There is nothing in the lore about the Snawfus having red or pink ears or eyes, but the dogwood flower is either pink or white with gradient pink toward the center. It’s not unrealistic to think that this may be a continuation of Celtic pagan belief, as many of early Ozark settlers were descendants of immigrants from the British isles. Though converted to Christianity hundreds of years ago, it’s no secret that many of the old beliefs held fast. It has been well documented that Ozarkers believed in “Little People” inhabiting stones and hills, and held other animistic beliefs as well.

Thinking along these lines, I ponder if the legend of the Snawfus could also be a local manifestation of the god Cernunnos. Both are antlered and associated with death. The Lord of the Otherworld god-type has manifested in different ways in Celtic myth through the ages- with and without the antlers. Just as those entities once revered as gods or powerful nature spirits became the Little People, so too might such a timeless entity as Cernunnos manifest for his people who traversed so from their origins as well, into a form in which he can be remembered anew.

I’m not alone in this pondering of the divinity of the Snawfus… I’ve come across writings of modern admirers (or should I say followers?) of the Snawfus, that call his blue mist exhalations the “breath of awen”, and regard him as the Spirit of Nature.

Yet there is another aspect of the Snawfus to explore; the great tree that grows from his head. Some stories describe it as a plum tree, but most say it is a dogwood. There’s a legend or two on how it got there- the main one being that a hunter who was out of bullets shot him in the head with a plum pit. That story is just goofy since there is no way a gun would shoot a plum pit, plus it seems to ignore the fact that it is commonly taboo to kill a white deer.

What I am more interested in is the fact that the tree is a dogwood, and the lore and legends surrounding it. The dogwood tree is native to North America and Mexico. Despite where the actual tree originated, there has come to be a lot of Christian legends surrounding it… like it was Jesus’ favorite tree so it was chosen to be used for the cross he was crucified on. (My, they would have had to go a long way to get it…) This legend also states that since that time, the tree no longer grows as tall and straight and the flowers that bloom upon it are in the shape of a cross, with indentations and blood/rust “stains” on the ends where the nails would go. The stamens are supposed to represent the crown of thorns, and the red fruit represents his blood. (No doubt, these colors seen against dark branches, brings to mind the sacred color trinity of red, white, and black.) Add this imagery to the fact that the tree blooms around the time of Easter; from about mid-April to mid-May. There’s also the legend that the dogwood was Adam’s favorite tree and so the devil tried to climb over the wall of Eden to get at it and destroy it, but only managed to take a little bite out of the end of every flower petal. So, what all this tells me, is that Christian settlers perhaps considered the tree both sacred and cursed, as they created a lore that intertwined it in such a way with their beliefs.

Here, dogwood bark took the place of rowan (mountain ash) in the old rowan and red thread protective talismans from the Gaelic countries. Dogwood was used not only for home talismans, but portable ones as well. 

“Some woodcutters who live on Sugar Creek, in Benton county, Arkansas, believe that a mad dog never bites a man who carries a piece of dogwood in his pocket, according to an old gentleman I met in Bentonville.” –Vance Randolph, Ozark Magic and Folklore

Dogwood roots and twigs were also steeped in whisky or boiled into a tea as a remedy for colds and fevers, and the bark was believed to cure colic. Dogwood and redbud are also traditional Ozark ingredients in love spells. Blooming from mid-April to early May, the Dogwood is seen in the Ozarks as an indicator that Spring has arrived. In the old countries this would have been hawthorne, which is not as common here. 

And so, the link Snawfus has with the Dogwood seems to be a profound pairing. For anyone celebrating May Day (Spring Equitherm) in the Ozarks, I think this mythos, imagery, and symbolism are an important part of the season.

Countdown to May Day – Holiday Planner

April 1st – 7th

• Decorate for the holiday / make crafts to decorate home and altar.

• Take seasonal (outdoor) pictures with family/friends.

April  8th – 14th

• Firm up ritual plans, if you haven’t already. Will you be attending a festival, local event, a family event, or doing something on your own? If you are planning the ritual, decide on location and script/liturgy.

• Obtain ribbons, pole, etc. and construct a may pole (unless you already have one you use every year).

• Scope out good places to forage various wild foods (especially nettles, and other greens).

April  15th – 21st

• Make menu plans and grocery list.

• Find place to pick/obtain flowers for ritual.

• Start a batch of mead for next year.

April  22nd – 30th

• Shop for menu items.

• Gather Sassafras leaves.

• Pack away winter clothes in Sassafras leaves (an Ozark folk tradition).

• Prepare some menu items in advance (if applicable).

April 31st / May 1st

• Forage for wild greens, if part of feast.

• Pick wild flowers and make garlands, crowns, altar decorations, etc.

• Cook Feast.

• Observe ritual, or honor the Spirits in one form or another.

• Feast and make merry.

My May Day Playlist

• Thugamar Fein an Samhradh Linn – Wolfe Tones (As Gaeilege)

• Flowering Earth  – Ani Williams & Lisa Thiel (Sisters of the Dream)

• The Wild Mountain Thyme – The Corries (Silver collection)

• Weaving the Summer  – Spiral Dance (The Quickening)

• The Pretty Maid  – Clannad (Clannad)

• Till April is Dead – Lisa Knapp (Till April is Dead – A Garland of May)

• Padstow – Steeleye Span (Folk Rock Pioneers In Concert)

• Bealtaine Song – La Lugh (Senex Puer)

• Faery Song – Lisa Thiel (Invocation of the Graces)

• Hal-An-Tow  – The Watersons (Frost and Fire)

• Blessings of Beltane – Cernunnos Rising (Wild Soul)

• Pleasant Month of May – Lisa Knapp (Till April is Dead – A Garland of May)

• Maypole – Magnet (The Wicker Man – Original Soundtrack Recording)

• The Market Song – Faun (Eden)

• Beltane Fires – Gaia Consort (Secret Voices)

• Sumer Is Icumen In  – Circulus (Thought Becomes Reality)

• Mating Dance / Beltane – Jenna Greene (Crossroads)

• Tine Bealtaine – Omnia (Pagan Folk)

• Beltane Fires – Oxymora (Thundering Silence)

• Under a Beltane Sun – Damh the Bard (Antlered Crown and Standing Stone)

• Walpurgisnacht – Faun (Luna)

• The May Queen – Robert Plant (Carry Fire)

• The Night Before May Day – Lisa Knapp (Till April is Dead – A Garland of May)

• Cup of Wonder – Jethro Tull (Songs from the Woods)

• Samhradh, Samhradh – The Chieftains (The Chieftains 5)

• May Morning Dew – Siobhan Miller (All Is Not Forgotten)

• Queen of the May – Belshazzar’s Feast (Find the Lady)

• Sumer Is Icumen In – Liederlicher Unfug (Mirst von herzen leide)

• Staines Morris – Wren of Iniquity (Wren of Iniquity)

• Wildwood Flower – Emmylou Harris (Songbird: Rare Tracks & Forgotten Gems)

• Cherry Blossom Love – The Wailin’ Jennys (Bright Morning Stars)

You can listen to them all on one playlist here.

Kids’ Activities for May Day / Spring Equitherm

EXPLANATION & INFORMATION

• “The Ancient Celtic Festivals and How We Celebrate Them Today” by Clare Walker Leslie and Frank E. Gerace (for ages 9-12)

STORIES

• “Insifail” from the book “Celtic Wonder Tales” by Ella Young (for ages 9-12)
• “Etains’s Other World” from the book “Celtic Myths” by Sam McBratney
• “Little Grey Rabbit’s May Day” by Alison Uttley (for ages 4-8)
• “On the Morn of Mayfest” by Erica Silverman (for ages 4-8)
• “The Flowers’ Festival” by Elsa Beskow (for ages 3 and up)

CRAFTS / ACTIVITIES

• Wash your face in May dew.
• Pick flowers and make May baskets. (Use instructions for Yule Cornucopias.) Place flower-filled May baskets on neighbors’ door knobs.
• Make flower crowns and daisy chains.

• Decorate a May Bush: This can be a living tree or a branch or clump of a tree brought indoors. Decorate it streamers, ribbons, scraps of cloth, flowers, and colored blown eggs. At dusk, dance around it! The May Bush is representative of the World Tree.

Ozark May Day Customs

Though the big celebrations of May day had been left behind long ago in the ancestral homelands, folklorist Vance Randolph documented many folk customs that he witnessed in the Ozarks persisting well up into the twentieth century.

~For many families, the first of May was the first day of the year that children were allowed to go outside barefoot.

~On this day, winter clothes were packed away with sassafras leaves.

~Cucumber and watermelons planted before sunrise on May first would not be bothered by insects.

~May first was considered the best day of the year for a girl to pick a husband. However, it was considered unlucky to marry in May.

~If you throw an eggshell into a fire on May first and you see a drop of blood on it, you will not live to see another May day.

May Day Future Mate Divinations

~Look into a spring before breakfast to see images of your future husband and children.
~Go to a well at noon and reflect light down into the darkness with a mirror to see the face of your future spouse.

~Wet a handkerchief on the eve of May and hang it in a cornfield. The next day look for initials in the wrinkles.

~Hold a bottle of water up to the light at sunrise to see an outline of your future husband.

~Place a horseshoe over your door before dawn on May first and the next person to pass through the door will look like your future husband.

~A widow may leave her door open at daybreak on the first of May and the first creature to enter her house will have the hair color of her future husband.

~The first bird’s nest a girl finds on May day will have as many eggs in it as she will have children.