Tag Archives: proverb

Alles neu macht der Mai

The title is a German saying that derives from a poem from 1818 by Hermann Adam von Kamp and can be roughly translated to: „Everything new May will do“ though the proper English version would be „April showers bring May flowers„. Either way this proverb essentially means that May brings about change.
Literally speaking this of course refers to the now more steady weather (there is another saying that goes:  „April, April der weiß nicht, was er will“ – „April, April, who does not know his own will“ that refers to April’s changeable nature) and Spring now slowly turns into Summer, causing vegetation to flourish, at least in the Northern Hemisphere.
Needless to say the first of May is also a national holiday here in Germany, a kind of Labour Day where all kinds of demonstrations are also a common thing. Let’s not forget the 30th of April that is celebrated quite differently as „Dance into the May“ („Tanz in den Mai„), Walpurgis Night or even Beltane.
Oh, how I’d like to take part or watch a proper celebration of one of the latter two…
We merely gather up to chat on the meadow at the base of an old castle and watch the hustle and bustle of people that enjoy the more village fête like character of the feast.
Anyway, on a more figurative level the new stuff May can bring about is change for a person, a life so to speak.
As I mentioned before did a new chapter start for me at the beginning of the month, as I officially became employed and received my degree at the End of March. But as April had thrown quite a bunch of stuff at me, both positive and negative, I have yet to find my footing and rhythm in this new chapter, though I will continue searching for it
Still, May also brings about some changes of its own.
For example am I starting as monthly writer for The Extremis Review and still don’t know what that’ll be like. (On that note: I have added the page and some other pages I am reading on occasion into the Blogroll, so you can check them out if you are interested)
Besides that is this May also the start of the festival season with the Out&Loud (former Beastival) in Geiselwind. DarkFairy and I will be attending it for the first time and quite a bunch of planning needs still to be done – I hopefully get my latest investment (an adapter for my headset as my new laptop only has a connector for speakers) in time so that we can at least discuss everything properly, instead of having to type everything.
Other than that did I spontaneously buy tickets for a concert of Bela B. (from Die Ärzte) whom I wanted to see live on his own for quite some time now.
On the weekend after the concert (10. May) will also be Germany’s version of the Free Comic Book Day, though I am not sure if I can actually participate in that as the nearest Comic book stores offering the comics are in Schwerin, Rostock and Berlin, all of which are not really around the corner from where I live.
I’m still curious to find out what other new things this May will bring, though I do hope the amount of good things is higher than the bad ones.
PoiSonPaiNter