May – a Month of Celebration!
The Month of May is full of opportunities to celebrate! From the European festival for May Day, to Star Wars Day, Neurodiversity Celebration Week, and Jewish American Heritage Month, May has something for everyone.
What is May Day?
It’s a European festival observed on the first of May, which is around the midway point between the spring equinox and summer solstice. The earliest-documented May Day festivals date to the Roman Republic era, and involved Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers! It marks the beginning of summertime, as the weather warms up and flowers bloom. Traditional festivities include dancing ribbons around a may pole, crowning a May Queen, and wearing garlands of woven wildflowers and green branches. Sounds like a lovely time!
You could do a little May Day celebration of your own, by making a flower crown, or garland, like one of these:
May the Fourth Be With You!
The 4th of May is Star Wars Day – a great day to check out one of the following books…
or make a duct tape wallet! As we all know, the Force is like duct tape: it has a light side and a dark side. And a sticky side?
Neurodiversity Celebration Week: May 13-19, 2023
The Neurodiversity Week organization aims to both educate and celebrate! They are a year-round initiative, but for the week of May 13-19 they have free and open-to-everyone webinars on their website where they cover neuro-inclusive practices from the classroom to the boardroom. They also have materials, activities, and resources for schools, students, parents, and organizations!
Neurodiversity Celebration Week is a worldwide initiative that challenges stereotypes and misconceptions about neurological differences. It aims to transform how neurodivergent individuals are perceived and supported by providing schools, universities, and organizations with the opportunity to recognize the many talents and advantages of being neurodivergent, while creating more inclusive and equitable cultures that celebrate differences and empower every individual.
https://www.neurodiversityweek.com
Check out our post from April to get some great suggestions for books featuring neurodivergent characters. Representation matters!
Jewish American Heritage Month
As they say directly on the JewishHeritageMonth.gov site about this month:
The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of Jewish Americans who helped form the fabric of American history, culture, and society.
https://www.jewishheritagemonth.gov/
Jewish Americans have made extraordinary contributions to science, politics, and culture – with impact reaching well beyond the borders of the United States! Here are a few examples of these champions of their fields and ways to check out their work:
Albert Einstein – the theoretical physicist best known for developing the theory of relativity
Ruth Bader Ginsburg – the first female Jewish Supreme Court Justice
Gloria Steinem – a passionate leader of the women’s rights movement
Steven Spielberg – a writer, producer, and the most commercially successful film director ever
Stan Lee – a comic book writer and creator of the Marvel Universe
Don’t forget to check out our eBooks and audiobooks on Libby
