Suddenly he’s back. Simply that way. Like an old friend who’s been away for a while. submerged. Disappeared. Needed a break. Or something like that. But as soon as he’s back in front of the door, we wonder how we ever managed without his company. Wait eleven months! Did that have to take so long? The butterflies are already stirring very quietly in your stomach. Harbingers of the great moments of happiness that will come when our favorite month of May finally returns.
Nature now revels in the most beautiful colors. Everywhere it smells of fresh green and delicate blossoms. Countless birds come together in a merry orchestra. Finally, the clothes are more airy again, so that the warm air can caress the skin. Fresh asparagus and sweet strawberries beguile our palate. A feast for the senses. Scholars are still arguing about how many channels of perception we actually have. Is it five, eight, 13? Maybe more?
Sure: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching are the “big five”. But what about the sense of balance, our sense of temperature? Is there a time sensor ticking in us? Find out! Rarely is the search for meaning as much fun as it is now, in the merry month of May.
Table of Contents
We feel it first on our skin: Summer is coming
On its best days, May surprises us with clear skies and 25 degrees – and that happens completely unexpectedly. Café owners hastily move their tables onto the street, beer gardens fill up. Picnic blankets are rolled out in the city parks, and long queues form in front of the ice cream parlours. Suddenly there are people everywhere, looking at each other happily instead of blindly rushing past each other.
Everything seems possible when the sun tickles our skin, we wear strappy sandals for the first time and are unexpectedly smiled at. In general, everyone looks nicer in some way. Or are we just imagining it because we feel more attractive and alive about ourselves? “Never let this carefree summer feeling end!” we want to shout.
But unfortunately our friend Mai quickly becomes a diva and sends the ice saints over. Nasty cold air fronts said to occur between May 11th and 15th. However, weather data shows that these temperature drops tend to occur around May 20th. The culprit is probably the calendar reform by Pope Gregory VIII in 1582, in which all dates were pushed forward ten days, but the ice saints did not move with them. Experienced gardeners therefore wait until the end of May before planting.
Tip for everyone who wants to feel fresh earth on their fingers earlier: Pansies and Bornholm daisies are guaranteed to be frost-resistant.
Dancing – the best way to feel your body
There can hardly be a better start: We welcome the new month on April 30th with the ” Dance into May “. The revelers get closer in a cheerful atmosphere, moving together to the beat of the music. In the country people still dance around a May bonfire or a Maypole– usually a birch as a symbol of fertility. The cult of Walpurgis Night, in which the mighty Germanic god Wotan married Freia, goddess of the earth, dates back to pre-Christian times. The namesake Walburga, a canonized abbess from the 8th century, actually had nothing to do with dark forces. It is no longer possible to understand who came up with the idea of commemorating Walburga on the same day – May 1st – as the legendary wedding of the gods.
What remains of this cult-laden story is a peaceful night of celebration where we have fun, flirt and drink Maypunch by the gallon. Conveniently, the whole thing falls on a public holiday. Incidentally, Labor Day is also celebrated in France, Sweden, Brazil and Thailand. A happy coincidence this year: the church holidays of Ascension Day and Pentecost also fall in May. Plenty of time for excursions, short breaks and eating asparagus together. Oh yes, don’t forget Mother’s Day on May 8th!
Tip: Instead of buying cut flowers, it is better to give a small tree that you can all plant together.
Hear, see, smell – preferably at the same time
No, no mistake: there is something in the air. Fine scents tickle your nose as soon as we step outside the door. In the front yards, the lilac bushes explode in purple, pink and white and give off their scent. Rhododendrons, azaleas, chrysanthemums and hyacinths are all blooming, and somewhere a shy lily of the valley is sprouting. The trees are following suit. The cherry blossom comes first, followed by the apple blossom at the end of the month.
Wild meadows are sprinkled with daisies and golden yellow dandelions. The rapeseed blossom transforms even dreary stretches of land into luminous places of longing. The best way to experience them is on foot or by bike. And by the way, it also benefits your health. We get the right soundtrack for free: In May, our bird world gets out of control. While some are still singing, others are already brooding. Cranes feed their young, while cuckoo, red-backed shrike, reed warbler and oriole are only now returning, which they announce loudly and exuberantly. The German Nature Conservation Union recommends garden owners not to cut hedges in May so as not to disturb the brood.
Tip for more bird calls on your doorstep: a slightly overgrown garden with some weeds, a compost heap and old autumn leaves where nutritious small animals can live – as food for hungry beaks. Another tip: pay attention to variety. Instead of ornamental plants, plant native perennials, flowers and shrubs, because they are more likely to be flown in as a source of food. For example, up to 63 species of birds settle on a mountain ash to nibble on the red fruits. What an ear candy!
Love gives wings to the senses
May has a reputation to uphold. According to the Federal Statistical Office – not a place where you would have expected so much romance – people only get married more often in July and August. “In the beautiful month of May, when all the birds were singing, I confessed my longing and longing to her,” wrote Heinrich Heine (1797-1856), apparently with butterflies in his stomach. The “merry month” is actually a reinterpretation that goes back to Charlemagne. In the 9th century he introduced new names for the months and took the Old High German word “Wunnimanoth”, meaning “pasture month”, since the cattle are also allowed to leave the stable in May. Farming instead of lust and love.
So be it, this special tingling in the merry month of May is far too romantic not to believe in it. Anyone who opens their senses now will not only be more receptive to flirting signals, but will also radiate more sensuality. Have you already found your partner for life? Great! Then remember what it was like when you were newly in love, on May of your relationship. Do you feel it? That makes the heart grow a little bit bigger.
Training for the senses
A day for all senses
Have a “senses day” once a month on which you only surround yourself with beautiful impressions. This day could go something like this:
- In the morning you start z. B. with a gallery or museum visit. Works by an artist you do not know are best. Take your time looking at the colors and shapes. Try to decipher symbols or discover recurring motifs.
- At noon you go on a scent hunt in a perfumery. Try to name the character of the top note of five different perfumes. Does it smell floral, fruity, oriental, woody or aquatic? Take the test strips home and sniff them again three hours later. Well, what were the names of the creations again?
- In the afternoon there is time for a snack. Prepare an exotic dish that you don’t know yet but have always wanted to try. Taste explosions promise cleverly dosed Asian spices such as lemongrass, coriander, cumin or yuzu.
- In the evening you can relax perfectly. Take a full bath with fragrant mountains of foam and let your favorite music play. Then apply plenty of cream. Gentle tugging on the arms and legs promotes blood circulation. Circular movements are particularly good for neglected areas of the body such as elbows, knees and soles of the feet. You are guaranteed to sleep like heaven after this meaningful day.
Enjoy & train
See How well do you know your home? Just blindfold yourself on Sunday morning and do exactly what you usually do for a quarter of an hour: take a shower, brush your teeth, make coffee, feel for your favorite shirt in the closet, sort your handbag, etc. We are all “sighted people” now. become and rely too much on what we perceive with our eyes. All other senses atrophy because we don’t challenge them. If sight fails, we quickly realize how important the sense of touch is – and how infinitely long 15 minutes can feel.
As normal listeners, we usually only hear music in passing. A music quiz is nice in a larger group: You only play the first five seconds of each title to the listeners, after which they guess which title or artist it is about. Regardless of the genre, it is extremely difficult to recognize and distinguish even well-known catchy tunes.
Tasting Why not celebrate children’s birthdays again? Just play blind man’s buff and use only your nose and tongue to find out what’s being served to eat. Or you can have your partner cook you a great dish and name the ingredients with your eyes closed. The next night, switch roles. Incidentally, we taste sweet things on the tip of the tongue, sour things on the edge of the tongue, bitter things at the back and salty things on the entire surface of the tongue.
Taste At the weekly market, buy as many different types of fruit and vegetables as possible that are similar in shape and size. Then reach into the basket with your eyes closed. Can you really tell an eggplant from a mango? A papaya from an avocado? Run your fingertips over the surfaces and try to track down the little peculiarities of each variety.
Tip: Preparing and snacking on the ingredients trains your sense of taste again.
Smell Play Scent Memory! Drizzle ten cotton swabs with five different essential oils, two of each with the same. Put the bottles away, mix the chopsticks, sniff each one extensively and then form pairs. Which nuances distinguish the “Indian Rose” from the “Turkish Rose”? Or grapefruit from blood orange? The more you train, the finer and more alert your sense of smell becomes. A great side effect: Your apartment smells wonderfully seductive afterwards.
Staying in balance The sense of balance is one of the “channels” that we are far too seldom aware of. In order to always remember him, two exercises are enough:
- To stand on one leg. While standing upright, alternately pull one knee up for a few seconds. Goes well? Then, at the same time, stretch your arms out far in front of you.
- walk in a line. Use or mark a line on the floor to walk forward on. Too simple? Then please try the same thing backwards.
Events for the senses
Hanami – the Japanese word means nothing other than “to look at flowers”. The white and light pink blossoms of the Japanese cherry are revered in their native land. It’s nice that we can celebrate in Germany at the Japanese cherry blossom festivals, e.g. B. in Hamburg , Ludwigshafen .
Hear, see, count – the German Nature Conservation Union, NABU for short, proclaims the “Hour of the Garden Birds” from May 11th to 13th. The idea sounds impressively simple: everyone should spend an hour counting the birds in their immediate vicinity (garden, balcony, park) and report them to NABU. Great fun, especially with children.
Get off your shoes! Blades of grass damp with dew, warm earth, soft sand – our highly sensitive soles gratefully accept such sensory impressions. If you don’t have your own garden, you should definitely visit one of the many barefoot parks and paths in Germany.
