#ourladyoffatima — Public Fediverse posts

The May M.T Almanac

Pull up a chair, grab an ice-cream and hold onto your sunhats, because May is never quite as innocent as it looks!

It all starts on 1st with Beltane. Yes ‘Beltane’. Don’t come for me with your alternative spellings and pronunciations, I call it Beltane and I pronounce it “Bell-tane”. You may spell and pronounce it differently. That is your right. Many people do. We are, after all, human and we all have our own, slightly different takes on these things. That’s ok. We are inclusive here at Mysterious times. Anyway, I digress…

Beltane is an ancient fire festival which marks the beginning of summer in the Gaelic and Pagan calendar and has it’s own May Day customs of greenery, dancing, flowers and thresholds. May 1st this year (2026) falls on a Friday, while the May Day Bank holiday follows on Monday 4th

“But why?” I hear you ask,

“Why do we celebrate the Bank Holiday on Monday and not on the actual date?”

The answer to that is probably very simple.. but I can’t remember it at the moment. I’ll look into it and get back to you later. Stop interrupting. There will be time for questions like that in the comments. Moving on… Where were we?

Ah yes! Thresholds…

So, May is all about thresholds, and if you haven’t swept yours already, you’d better get to it. We will cover all the ins and outs of thresholds in another article, but for now let’s just say it’s believed by many to be most beneficial if you make sure yours are all in order before Beltane. So get your broom out.

In Christian calendars, it’s all about saints and workers (and probably spring cleaning). In the first few days of May we have St Joseph the Worker (Jesus’s dad), St Philip and St James (apostles)and St Athanasius (The Black Dwarf).

The Bahá’í Twelfth day of Ridván falls on the 2nd May, marking the close of one of the faiths holiest festivals.

Judaism brings Lag Ba’Omer in early May.

Meanwhile, the Christian calendar marches onwards toward Ascension Day on the 14th and Pentacost on the 24th.

May 25th offers another chance for Brits to descend on beer gardens and garden centres – It’s Spring Bank Holiday Monday!

Shavuot falls on 22-23rd May, the Declaration of the Báb is observed on the 24th, Hajj is listed from 24-29th, Eid al Adha from 26-30th, the Ascension of Bahá’ u’lláh also on the 29th and Vesak, or Buddah Day on the 31st May. Dates for lunar observances may vary slightly between community and sighting of the moon, but May 2026 is unusually crowded with sacred times.

This month is also, quite delightfully, the month that gives us National Paranormal Day on the 3rd May. It is a modern, unofficial observance rather than an ancient holy day, but it feels very at home here, tucked between Beltane fires and a month of apparitions, monsters and strange lights.

Talking of which – Cryptozoology! Yay!

May begins with one of the great monsters of modern folklore. On 2nd May 1933, the Inverness Courier published the report that helped launch the modern Loch Ness Monster legend, after Aldie Mackay claimed to have seen an enormous creature rolling and plunging in Loch Ness. The actual sighting was said to have occurred in April, but it was the May newspaper report that turned a Highland water mystery into an international monster. From there, Nessie became not only a cryptid, but a cultural force, part beast, part tourism icon, part stubborn ripple in the rational world.

But May’s strangeness doesn’t just stay in the water – and I, for one am very grateful for this because if it did we wouldn’t have any UFO reports like this one from McMinnville, Oregon.

On 11th May 1950, Paul and Evelyn Trent took two photographs near their home which showed what they described as a metallic, disc shaped object in the sky. the McMinnville photographs became some of the most famous UFO images of the twentieth century, debated by believers and sceptics alike. What keeps them interesting is not just the object in the frame, but the sheer ordinariness of the setting: A farm, evening light, rabbits to be fed, supper probably waiting. The uncanny often arrives without a soundtrack.

For May 13th, we have a case that could fit comfortably into both paranormal and religious history studies. on this date in 1917, three shepherd children at Fátima in Portugal reported the first of a series of Marian apparitions. The Catholic church later approved the devotion and the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima is now observed on May 13th. To the faithful it is sacred history. To historians of the paranormal, it is also one of the twentieth centuries most influential apparition narratives, complete with prophecy, crowds, controversy and a final public miracle claim in October of the same year. Me? I’m on the fence. The story has a lot of similarities to the kind of Fae encounters you find in folklore or Alien encounters in UFOlogy. Talking of UFOlogy (again)…

On the 19th May 1986, one of UFOlogys strongest radar visual cases occurred. In Brazil’s ‘Official UFO Night’, no less than 21 unidentified objects were reportedly seen by civilian and military witnesses across Sáo Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Goiás. Brazilian Air Force radar detected the objects, and five fighter jets were scrambled to intercept them. Whatever you think of the case, it remains significant because this wasn’t just a lone witness in a field somewhere. It was radar, air traffic control, military pilots and an official archive all staring at the same impossible sky.

On 20th May 1967, industrial mechanic Stefen Michalak reported seeing two strange craft near Falcon Lake, Manitoba, Canada, one of which landed nearby. He later sought medical help for burns and the Falcon Lake Incident became one of Canada’s most discussed UFO encounters. CBC called it Canada’s best documented UFO case, although sceptical questions remain around several details, but that’s often the way with the best cases. They refuse to behave for either side.

By the final week, the calendar has got it all going on. Shavuot, Pentacost, the Declaration of the Báb, Hajj, Eid al-Adha, the Ascension of Bahá’ u’ lláh and Vesack crowd together in a few, supercharged days. And that matters because folklore, faith, ghosts, UFOs and monsters all grow from the same human habit – we mark the year, we watch the skies, we tell each other what we saw and we argue about what it meant.

So May isn’t merely a month of Bank Holidays, blossom and bluebells. It’s Beltane smoke and Marian light. It’s Nessie breaking the surface of the public imagination. It’s flying discs over Oregon, radar ghosts over Brazil, burns and mystery beside a Canadian lake. It is saints days, sacred festivals, monster lore and strange skies all arriving under lengthening evenings when people are outside again and the world feels a little bigger, a little more… mysterious. That, perhaps is why May feels so magical. It opens the door and shows you the threshold.

References and Further Reading:

The UK Bank Holiday calendar, The University of Leeds 2025-2026 faith calendar, the Bahá’í calendar, the Catholic Liturgy calendar for May 2026, the Inverness Courier and later histories of the Loch Ness Monster, the McMinnville UFO Festival history, the Brazilian government archive on Official UFO Night, Library and Archives Canada material on Falcon Lake and reporting on the Fátima Apparitions.

The May M.T Almanac

Pull up a chair, grab an ice-cream and hold onto your sunhats, because May is never quite as innocent as it looks!

It all starts on 1st with Beltane. Yes ‘Beltane’. Don’t come for me with your alternative spellings and pronunciations, I call it Beltane and I pronounce it “Bell-tane”. You may spell and pronounce it differently. That is your right. Many people do. We are, after all, human and we all have our own, slightly different takes on these things. That’s ok. We are inclusive here at Mysterious times. Anyway, I digress…

Beltane is an ancient fire festival which marks the beginning of summer in the Gaelic and Pagan calendar and has it’s own May Day customs of greenery, dancing, flowers and thresholds. May 1st this year (2026) falls on a Friday, while the May Day Bank holiday follows on Monday 4th

“But why?” I hear you ask,

“Why do we celebrate the Bank Holiday on Monday and not on the actual date?”

The answer to that is probably very simple.. but I can’t remember it at the moment. I’ll look into it and get back to you later. Stop interrupting. There will be time for questions like that in the comments. Moving on… Where were we?

Ah yes! Thresholds…

So, May is all about thresholds, and if you haven’t swept yours already, you’d better get to it. We will cover all the ins and outs of thresholds in another article, but for now let’s just say it’s believed by many to be most beneficial if you make sure yours are all in order before Beltane. So get your broom out.

In Christian calendars, it’s all about saints and workers (and probably spring cleaning). In the first few days of May we have St Joseph the Worker (Jesus’s dad), St Philip and St James (apostles)and St Athanasius (The Black Dwarf).

The Bahá’í Twelfth day of Ridván falls on the 2nd May, marking the close of one of the faiths holiest festivals.

Judaism brings Lag Ba’Omer in early May.

Meanwhile, the Christian calendar marches onwards toward Ascension Day on the 14th and Pentacost on the 24th.

May 25th offers another chance for Brits to descend on beer gardens and garden centres – It’s Spring Bank Holiday Monday!

Shavuot falls on 22-23rd May, the Declaration of the Báb is observed on the 24th, Hajj is listed from 24-29th, Eid al Adha from 26-30th, the Ascension of Bahá’ u’lláh also on the 29th and Vesak, or Buddah Day on the 31st May. Dates for lunar observances may vary slightly between community and sighting of the moon, but May 2026 is unusually crowded with sacred times.

This month is also, quite delightfully, the month that gives us National Paranormal Day on the 3rd May. It is a modern, unofficial observance rather than an ancient holy day, but it feels very at home here, tucked between Beltane fires and a month of apparitions, monsters and strange lights.

Talking of which – Cryptozoology! Yay!

May begins with one of the great monsters of modern folklore. On 2nd May 1933, the Inverness Courier published the report that helped launch the modern Loch Ness Monster legend, after Aldie Mackay claimed to have seen an enormous creature rolling and plunging in Loch Ness. The actual sighting was said to have occurred in April, but it was the May newspaper report that turned a Highland water mystery into an international monster. From there, Nessie became not only a cryptid, but a cultural force, part beast, part tourism icon, part stubborn ripple in the rational world.

But May’s strangeness doesn’t just stay in the water – and I, for one am very grateful for this because if it did we wouldn’t have any UFO reports like this one from McMinnville, Oregon.

On 11th May 1950, Paul and Evelyn Trent took two photographs near their home which showed what they described as a metallic, disc shaped object in the sky. the McMinnville photographs became some of the most famous UFO images of the twentieth century, debated by believers and sceptics alike. What keeps them interesting is not just the object in the frame, but the sheer ordinariness of the setting: A farm, evening light, rabbits to be fed, supper probably waiting. The uncanny often arrives without a soundtrack.

For May 13th, we have a case that could fit comfortably into both paranormal and religious history studies. on this date in 1917, three shepherd children at Fátima in Portugal reported the first of a series of Marian apparitions. The Catholic church later approved the devotion and the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima is now observed on May 13th. To the faithful it is sacred history. To historians of the paranormal, it is also one of the twentieth centuries most influential apparition narratives, complete with prophecy, crowds, controversy and a final public miracle claim in October of the same year. Me? I’m on the fence. The story has a lot of similarities to the kind of Fae encounters you find in folklore or Alien encounters in UFOlogy. Talking of UFOlogy (again)…

On the 19th May 1986, one of UFOlogys strongest radar visual cases occurred. In Brazil’s ‘Official UFO Night’, no less than 21 unidentified objects were reportedly seen by civilian and military witnesses across Sáo Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Goiás. Brazilian Air Force radar detected the objects, and five fighter jets were scrambled to intercept them. Whatever you think of the case, it remains significant because this wasn’t just a lone witness in a field somewhere. It was radar, air traffic control, military pilots and an official archive all staring at the same impossible sky.

On 20th May 1967, industrial mechanic Stefen Michalak reported seeing two strange craft near Falcon Lake, Manitoba, Canada, one of which landed nearby. He later sought medical help for burns and the Falcon Lake Incident became one of Canada’s most discussed UFO encounters. CBC called it Canada’s best documented UFO case, although sceptical questions remain around several details, but that’s often the way with the best cases. They refuse to behave for either side.

By the final week, the calendar has got it all going on. Shavuot, Pentacost, the Declaration of the Báb, Hajj, Eid al-Adha, the Ascension of Bahá’ u’ lláh and Vesack crowd together in a few, supercharged days. And that matters because folklore, faith, ghosts, UFOs and monsters all grow from the same human habit – we mark the year, we watch the skies, we tell each other what we saw and we argue about what it meant.

So May isn’t merely a month of Bank Holidays, blossom and bluebells. It’s Beltane smoke and Marian light. It’s Nessie breaking the surface of the public imagination. It’s flying discs over Oregon, radar ghosts over Brazil, burns and mystery beside a Canadian lake. It is saints days, sacred festivals, monster lore and strange skies all arriving under lengthening evenings when people are outside again and the world feels a little bigger, a little more… mysterious. That, perhaps is why May feels so magical. It opens the door and shows you the threshold.

References and Further Reading:

The UK Bank Holiday calendar, The University of Leeds 2025-2026 faith calendar, the Bahá’í calendar, the Catholic Liturgy calendar for May 2026, the Inverness Courier and later histories of the Loch Ness Monster, the McMinnville UFO Festival history, the Brazilian government archive on Official UFO Night, Library and Archives Canada material on Falcon Lake and reporting on the Fátima Apparitions.

The May M.T Almanac

Pull up a chair, grab an ice-cream and hold onto your sunhats, because May is never quite as innocent as it looks!

It all starts on 1st with Beltane. Yes ‘Beltane’. Don’t come for me with your alternative spellings and pronunciations, I call it Beltane and I pronounce it “Bell-tane”. You may spell and pronounce it differently. That is your right. Many people do. We are, after all, human and we all have our own, slightly different takes on these things. That’s ok. We are inclusive here at Mysterious times. Anyway, I digress…

Beltane is an ancient fire festival which marks the beginning of summer in the Gaelic and Pagan calendar and has it’s own May Day customs of greenery, dancing, flowers and thresholds. May 1st this year (2026) falls on a Friday, while the May Day Bank holiday follows on Monday 4th

“But why?” I hear you ask,

“Why do we celebrate the Bank Holiday on Monday and not on the actual date?”

The answer to that is probably very simple.. but I can’t remember it at the moment. I’ll look into it and get back to you later. Stop interrupting. There will be time for questions like that in the comments. Moving on… Where were we?

Ah yes! Thresholds…

So, May is all about thresholds, and if you haven’t swept yours already, you’d better get to it. We will cover all the ins and outs of thresholds in another article, but for now let’s just say it’s believed by many to be most beneficial if you make sure yours are all in order before Beltane. So get your broom out.

In Christian calendars, it’s all about saints and workers (and probably spring cleaning). In the first few days of May we have St Joseph the Worker (Jesus’s dad), St Philip and St James (apostles)and St Athanasius (The Black Dwarf).

The Bahá’í Twelfth day of Ridván falls on the 2nd May, marking the close of one of the faiths holiest festivals.

Judaism brings Lag Ba’Omer in early May.

Meanwhile, the Christian calendar marches onwards toward Ascension Day on the 14th and Pentacost on the 24th.

May 25th offers another chance for Brits to descend on beer gardens and garden centres – It’s Spring Bank Holiday Monday!

Shavuot falls on 22-23rd May, the Declaration of the Báb is observed on the 24th, Hajj is listed from 24-29th, Eid al Adha from 26-30th, the Ascension of Bahá’ u’lláh also on the 29th and Vesak, or Buddah Day on the 31st May. Dates for lunar observances may vary slightly between community and sighting of the moon, but May 2026 is unusually crowded with sacred times.

This month is also, quite delightfully, the month that gives us National Paranormal Day on the 3rd May. It is a modern, unofficial observance rather than an ancient holy day, but it feels very at home here, tucked between Beltane fires and a month of apparitions, monsters and strange lights.

Talking of which – Cryptozoology! Yay!

May begins with one of the great monsters of modern folklore. On 2nd May 1933, the Inverness Courier published the report that helped launch the modern Loch Ness Monster legend, after Aldie Mackay claimed to have seen an enormous creature rolling and plunging in Loch Ness. The actual sighting was said to have occurred in April, but it was the May newspaper report that turned a Highland water mystery into an international monster. From there, Nessie became not only a cryptid, but a cultural force, part beast, part tourism icon, part stubborn ripple in the rational world.

But May’s strangeness doesn’t just stay in the water – and I, for one am very grateful for this because if it did we wouldn’t have any UFO reports like this one from McMinnville, Oregon.

On 11th May 1950, Paul and Evelyn Trent took two photographs near their home which showed what they described as a metallic, disc shaped object in the sky. the McMinnville photographs became some of the most famous UFO images of the twentieth century, debated by believers and sceptics alike. What keeps them interesting is not just the object in the frame, but the sheer ordinariness of the setting: A farm, evening light, rabbits to be fed, supper probably waiting. The uncanny often arrives without a soundtrack.

For May 13th, we have a case that could fit comfortably into both paranormal and religious history studies. on this date in 1917, three shepherd children at Fátima in Portugal reported the first of a series of Marian apparitions. The Catholic church later approved the devotion and the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima is now observed on May 13th. To the faithful it is sacred history. To historians of the paranormal, it is also one of the twentieth centuries most influential apparition narratives, complete with prophecy, crowds, controversy and a final public miracle claim in October of the same year. Me? I’m on the fence. The story has a lot of similarities to the kind of Fae encounters you find in folklore or Alien encounters in UFOlogy. Talking of UFOlogy (again)…

On the 19th May 1986, one of UFOlogys strongest radar visual cases occurred. In Brazil’s ‘Official UFO Night’, no less than 21 unidentified objects were reportedly seen by civilian and military witnesses across Sáo Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Goiás. Brazilian Air Force radar detected the objects, and five fighter jets were scrambled to intercept them. Whatever you think of the case, it remains significant because this wasn’t just a lone witness in a field somewhere. It was radar, air traffic control, military pilots and an official archive all staring at the same impossible sky.

On 20th May 1967, industrial mechanic Stefen Michalak reported seeing two strange craft near Falcon Lake, Manitoba, Canada, one of which landed nearby. He later sought medical help for burns and the Falcon Lake Incident became one of Canada’s most discussed UFO encounters. CBC called it Canada’s best documented UFO case, although sceptical questions remain around several details, but that’s often the way with the best cases. They refuse to behave for either side.

By the final week, the calendar has got it all going on. Shavuot, Pentacost, the Declaration of the Báb, Hajj, Eid al-Adha, the Ascension of Bahá’ u’ lláh and Vesack crowd together in a few, supercharged days. And that matters because folklore, faith, ghosts, UFOs and monsters all grow from the same human habit – we mark the year, we watch the skies, we tell each other what we saw and we argue about what it meant.

So May isn’t merely a month of Bank Holidays, blossom and bluebells. It’s Beltane smoke and Marian light. It’s Nessie breaking the surface of the public imagination. It’s flying discs over Oregon, radar ghosts over Brazil, burns and mystery beside a Canadian lake. It is saints days, sacred festivals, monster lore and strange skies all arriving under lengthening evenings when people are outside again and the world feels a little bigger, a little more… mysterious. That, perhaps is why May feels so magical. It opens the door and shows you the threshold.

References and Further Reading:

The UK Bank Holiday calendar, The University of Leeds 2025-2026 faith calendar, the Bahá’í calendar, the Catholic Liturgy calendar for May 2026, the Inverness Courier and later histories of the Loch Ness Monster, the McMinnville UFO Festival history, the Brazilian government archive on Official UFO Night, Library and Archives Canada material on Falcon Lake and reporting on the Fátima Apparitions.

The May M.T Almanac

Pull up a chair, grab an ice-cream and hold onto your sunhats, because May is never quite as innocent as it looks!

It all starts on 1st with Beltane. Yes ‘Beltane’. Don’t come for me with your alternative spellings and pronunciations, I call it Beltane and I pronounce it “Bell-tane”. You may spell and pronounce it differently. That is your right. Many people do. We are, after all, human and we all have our own, slightly different takes on these things. That’s ok. We are inclusive here at Mysterious times. Anyway, I digress…

Beltane is an ancient fire festival which marks the beginning of summer in the Gaelic and Pagan calendar and has it’s own May Day customs of greenery, dancing, flowers and thresholds. May 1st this year (2026) falls on a Friday, while the May Day Bank holiday follows on Monday 4th

“But why?” I hear you ask,

“Why do we celebrate the Bank Holiday on Monday and not on the actual date?”

The answer to that is probably very simple.. but I can’t remember it at the moment. I’ll look into it and get back to you later. Stop interrupting. There will be time for questions like that in the comments. Moving on… Where were we?

Ah yes! Thresholds…

So, May is all about thresholds, and if you haven’t swept yours already, you’d better get to it. We will cover all the ins and outs of thresholds in another article, but for now let’s just say it’s believed by many to be most beneficial if you make sure yours are all in order before Beltane. So get your broom out.

In Christian calendars, it’s all about saints and workers (and probably spring cleaning). In the first few days of May we have St Joseph the Worker (Jesus’s dad), St Philip and St James (apostles)and St Athanasius (The Black Dwarf).

The Bahá’í Twelfth day of Ridván falls on the 2nd May, marking the close of one of the faiths holiest festivals.

Judaism brings Lag Ba’Omer in early May.

Meanwhile, the Christian calendar marches onwards toward Ascension Day on the 14th and Pentacost on the 24th.

May 25th offers another chance for Brits to descend on beer gardens and garden centres – It’s Spring Bank Holiday Monday!

Shavuot falls on 22-23rd May, the Declaration of the Báb is observed on the 24th, Hajj is listed from 24-29th, Eid al Adha from 26-30th, the Ascension of Bahá’ u’lláh also on the 29th and Vesak, or Buddah Day on the 31st May. Dates for lunar observances may vary slightly between community and sighting of the moon, but May 2026 is unusually crowded with sacred times.

This month is also, quite delightfully, the month that gives us National Paranormal Day on the 3rd May. It is a modern, unofficial observance rather than an ancient holy day, but it feels very at home here, tucked between Beltane fires and a month of apparitions, monsters and strange lights.

Talking of which – Cryptozoology! Yay!

May begins with one of the great monsters of modern folklore. On 2nd May 1933, the Inverness Courier published the report that helped launch the modern Loch Ness Monster legend, after Aldie Mackay claimed to have seen an enormous creature rolling and plunging in Loch Ness. The actual sighting was said to have occurred in April, but it was the May newspaper report that turned a Highland water mystery into an international monster. From there, Nessie became not only a cryptid, but a cultural force, part beast, part tourism icon, part stubborn ripple in the rational world.

But May’s strangeness doesn’t just stay in the water – and I, for one am very grateful for this because if it did we wouldn’t have any UFO reports like this one from McMinnville, Oregon.

On 11th May 1950, Paul and Evelyn Trent took two photographs near their home which showed what they described as a metallic, disc shaped object in the sky. the McMinnville photographs became some of the most famous UFO images of the twentieth century, debated by believers and sceptics alike. What keeps them interesting is not just the object in the frame, but the sheer ordinariness of the setting: A farm, evening light, rabbits to be fed, supper probably waiting. The uncanny often arrives without a soundtrack.

For May 13th, we have a case that could fit comfortably into both paranormal and religious history studies. on this date in 1917, three shepherd children at Fátima in Portugal reported the first of a series of Marian apparitions. The Catholic church later approved the devotion and the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima is now observed on May 13th. To the faithful it is sacred history. To historians of the paranormal, it is also one of the twentieth centuries most influential apparition narratives, complete with prophecy, crowds, controversy and a final public miracle claim in October of the same year. Me? I’m on the fence. The story has a lot of similarities to the kind of Fae encounters you find in folklore or Alien encounters in UFOlogy. Talking of UFOlogy (again)…

On the 19th May 1986, one of UFOlogys strongest radar visual cases occurred. In Brazil’s ‘Official UFO Night’, no less than 21 unidentified objects were reportedly seen by civilian and military witnesses across Sáo Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Goiás. Brazilian Air Force radar detected the objects, and five fighter jets were scrambled to intercept them. Whatever you think of the case, it remains significant because this wasn’t just a lone witness in a field somewhere. It was radar, air traffic control, military pilots and an official archive all staring at the same impossible sky.

On 20th May 1967, industrial mechanic Stefen Michalak reported seeing two strange craft near Falcon Lake, Manitoba, Canada, one of which landed nearby. He later sought medical help for burns and the Falcon Lake Incident became one of Canada’s most discussed UFO encounters. CBC called it Canada’s best documented UFO case, although sceptical questions remain around several details, but that’s often the way with the best cases. They refuse to behave for either side.

By the final week, the calendar has got it all going on. Shavuot, Pentacost, the Declaration of the Báb, Hajj, Eid al-Adha, the Ascension of Bahá’ u’ lláh and Vesack crowd together in a few, supercharged days. And that matters because folklore, faith, ghosts, UFOs and monsters all grow from the same human habit – we mark the year, we watch the skies, we tell each other what we saw and we argue about what it meant.

So May isn’t merely a month of Bank Holidays, blossom and bluebells. It’s Beltane smoke and Marian light. It’s Nessie breaking the surface of the public imagination. It’s flying discs over Oregon, radar ghosts over Brazil, burns and mystery beside a Canadian lake. It is saints days, sacred festivals, monster lore and strange skies all arriving under lengthening evenings when people are outside again and the world feels a little bigger, a little more… mysterious. That, perhaps is why May feels so magical. It opens the door and shows you the threshold.

References and Further Reading:

The UK Bank Holiday calendar, The University of Leeds 2025-2026 faith calendar, the Bahá’í calendar, the Catholic Liturgy calendar for May 2026, the Inverness Courier and later histories of the Loch Ness Monster, the McMinnville UFO Festival history, the Brazilian government archive on Official UFO Night, Library and Archives Canada material on Falcon Lake and reporting on the Fátima Apparitions.

The May M.T Almanac

Pull up a chair, grab an ice-cream and hold onto your sunhats, because May is never quite as innocent as it looks!

It all starts on 1st with Beltane. Yes ‘Beltane’. Don’t come for me with your alternative spellings and pronunciations, I call it Beltane and I pronounce it “Bell-tane”. You may spell and pronounce it differently. That is your right. Many people do. We are, after all, human and we all have our own, slightly different takes on these things. That’s ok. We are inclusive here at Mysterious times. Anyway, I digress…

Beltane is an ancient fire festival which marks the beginning of summer in the Gaelic and Pagan calendar and has it’s own May Day customs of greenery, dancing, flowers and thresholds. May 1st this year (2026) falls on a Friday, while the May Day Bank holiday follows on Monday 4th

“But why?” I hear you ask,

“Why do we celebrate the Bank Holiday on Monday and not on the actual date?”

The answer to that is probably very simple.. but I can’t remember it at the moment. I’ll look into it and get back to you later. Stop interrupting. There will be time for questions like that in the comments. Moving on… Where were we?

Ah yes! Thresholds…

So, May is all about thresholds, and if you haven’t swept yours already, you’d better get to it. We will cover all the ins and outs of thresholds in another article, but for now let’s just say it’s believed by many to be most beneficial if you make sure yours are all in order before Beltane. So get your broom out.

In Christian calendars, it’s all about saints and workers (and probably spring cleaning). In the first few days of May we have St Joseph the Worker (Jesus’s dad), St Philip and St James (apostles)and St Athanasius (The Black Dwarf).

The Bahá’í Twelfth day of Ridván falls on the 2nd May, marking the close of one of the faiths holiest festivals.

Judaism brings Lag Ba’Omer in early May.

Meanwhile, the Christian calendar marches onwards toward Ascension Day on the 14th and Pentacost on the 24th.

May 25th offers another chance for Brits to descend on beer gardens and garden centres – It’s Spring Bank Holiday Monday!

Shavuot falls on 22-23rd May, the Declaration of the Báb is observed on the 24th, Hajj is listed from 24-29th, Eid al Adha from 26-30th, the Ascension of Bahá’ u’lláh also on the 29th and Vesak, or Buddah Day on the 31st May. Dates for lunar observances may vary slightly between community and sighting of the moon, but May 2026 is unusually crowded with sacred times.

This month is also, quite delightfully, the month that gives us National Paranormal Day on the 3rd May. It is a modern, unofficial observance rather than an ancient holy day, but it feels very at home here, tucked between Beltane fires and a month of apparitions, monsters and strange lights.

Talking of which – Cryptozoology! Yay!

May begins with one of the great monsters of modern folklore. On 2nd May 1933, the Inverness Courier published the report that helped launch the modern Loch Ness Monster legend, after Aldie Mackay claimed to have seen an enormous creature rolling and plunging in Loch Ness. The actual sighting was said to have occurred in April, but it was the May newspaper report that turned a Highland water mystery into an international monster. From there, Nessie became not only a cryptid, but a cultural force, part beast, part tourism icon, part stubborn ripple in the rational world.

But May’s strangeness doesn’t just stay in the water – and I, for one am very grateful for this because if it did we wouldn’t have any UFO reports like this one from McMinnville, Oregon.

On 11th May 1950, Paul and Evelyn Trent took two photographs near their home which showed what they described as a metallic, disc shaped object in the sky. the McMinnville photographs became some of the most famous UFO images of the twentieth century, debated by believers and sceptics alike. What keeps them interesting is not just the object in the frame, but the sheer ordinariness of the setting: A farm, evening light, rabbits to be fed, supper probably waiting. The uncanny often arrives without a soundtrack.

For May 13th, we have a case that could fit comfortably into both paranormal and religious history studies. on this date in 1917, three shepherd children at Fátima in Portugal reported the first of a series of Marian apparitions. The Catholic church later approved the devotion and the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima is now observed on May 13th. To the faithful it is sacred history. To historians of the paranormal, it is also one of the twentieth centuries most influential apparition narratives, complete with prophecy, crowds, controversy and a final public miracle claim in October of the same year. Me? I’m on the fence. The story has a lot of similarities to the kind of Fae encounters you find in folklore or Alien encounters in UFOlogy. Talking of UFOlogy (again)…

On the 19th May 1986, one of UFOlogys strongest radar visual cases occurred. In Brazil’s ‘Official UFO Night’, no less than 21 unidentified objects were reportedly seen by civilian and military witnesses across Sáo Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Goiás. Brazilian Air Force radar detected the objects, and five fighter jets were scrambled to intercept them. Whatever you think of the case, it remains significant because this wasn’t just a lone witness in a field somewhere. It was radar, air traffic control, military pilots and an official archive all staring at the same impossible sky.

On 20th May 1967, industrial mechanic Stefen Michalak reported seeing two strange craft near Falcon Lake, Manitoba, Canada, one of which landed nearby. He later sought medical help for burns and the Falcon Lake Incident became one of Canada’s most discussed UFO encounters. CBC called it Canada’s best documented UFO case, although sceptical questions remain around several details, but that’s often the way with the best cases. They refuse to behave for either side.

By the final week, the calendar has got it all going on. Shavuot, Pentacost, the Declaration of the Báb, Hajj, Eid al-Adha, the Ascension of Bahá’ u’ lláh and Vesack crowd together in a few, supercharged days. And that matters because folklore, faith, ghosts, UFOs and monsters all grow from the same human habit – we mark the year, we watch the skies, we tell each other what we saw and we argue about what it meant.

So May isn’t merely a month of Bank Holidays, blossom and bluebells. It’s Beltane smoke and Marian light. It’s Nessie breaking the surface of the public imagination. It’s flying discs over Oregon, radar ghosts over Brazil, burns and mystery beside a Canadian lake. It is saints days, sacred festivals, monster lore and strange skies all arriving under lengthening evenings when people are outside again and the world feels a little bigger, a little more… mysterious. That, perhaps is why May feels so magical. It opens the door and shows you the threshold.

References and Further Reading:

The UK Bank Holiday calendar, The University of Leeds 2025-2026 faith calendar, the Bahá’í calendar, the Catholic Liturgy calendar for May 2026, the Inverness Courier and later histories of the Loch Ness Monster, the McMinnville UFO Festival history, the Brazilian government archive on Official UFO Night, Library and Archives Canada material on Falcon Lake and reporting on the Fátima Apparitions.

Quote of the day, 13 May: Ven. Maria Lucia

Sister Lucia entered the Carmelite convent [of Coimbra] on the same liturgical day that she was born—Holy Thursday. It was also the Feast of the Annunciation [25 March 1948], and now also the Solemn Profession of a sister, [so when Lucia entered as a new member of the community, everything] was absorbed by the Solemnity of the day. 

In the Easter Triduum, the silence is more profound, making it more desirable to adore and contemplate the mystery of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Our Lord, Who for our sake became man and suffered death to save us from sin and death. 

After Mass, Sister Lucia, in the company of Mother Prioress, was given her cell dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Centered on top of the door was a small frame which read: ‘Immaculate Heart of Mary’, and then a sentence addressed to the inhabitant: ‘My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge.’ 

This sentence was at eye level and she read it every time she entered her cell. It would be a heavenly melody in her heart during the 57 years she lived in Carmel.

On Easter Monday, March 29, she wrote to her Superior [from the Sisters of St. Dorothy] in Tuy, Mother Cunha Matos, telling her of her joy: 

As of right now, you know that on Holy Thursday morning at 5:30 a.m. I entered the Carmel of Coimbra, by the arrangements of the Bishop here, who came on this day and at that hour to assist in the Solemn Profession of a Sister. I enjoyed it very much and I am very well and extremely happy.

My name is Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart, what a beautiful name, is it not? Far more beautiful than Sister Dores [Sister Sorrows], don’t you think? Here I found a small group of lovely sisters; whenever I encounter them I have the impression of meeting Saint Teresa. The name was chosen here by the Bishop.

Venerable Maria Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart

Chapter XVI, Religious Carmelite

of St. Teresa Coimbra Portugal, C 2015, A pathway under the gaze of Mary : biography of Sister Maria Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart O.C.D., translated from the Portuguese by Colson, J, World Apostolate of Fatima USA, Washington NJ.

Featured image: Venerable Lucia uses a word processor with a CRT display in her cell. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (Some rights reserved)

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
What would it mean for me to let Mary’s Immaculate Heart truly be my refuge?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#CarmelOfCoimbra #cell #ImmaculateHeartOfMary #inspiration #monasticLife #nuns #OurLadyOfFatima #VenerableMariaLuciaOfJesusAndTheImmaculateHeart #vocations

🌟 Our Lady of Fatima is revered for her 1917 apparitions in Fatima, Portugal. She appeared to three shepherd children, urging them to pray the Rosary, offer sacrifices, and seek peace. Her final appearance featured the Miracle of the Sun, a celestial event witnessed by many. Today, millions continue her legacy by praying the Rosary and visiting the shrine at Fatima. #OurLadyOfFatima #Rosary #Fatima #MiracleOfTheSun #Peace https://young-catholics.com/8741/our-lady-of-fatima/

An Our Lady of Fatima ash tray?
___________
#Fatima
#OurLadyOfFatima

-- The Third Secret of Fatima, or, the Convenience of Making The Rules Up As You Go --
(from Kevin Nontradicath)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF_N7NUz1bk

#Catholic #prophecy #visions #OurLadyOfFatima #apologetics #Pope

This is one of my favorite new channels.
-- The more you learn about the Miracle of Fatima, the less impressive it seems. --
(from Kevin Nontradicath)
#Catholic #miracles #OurLadyOfFatima #MiracleOfFatima #Mariology #history #church #Catholicism #prophecy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8r1KshrSiI