This post is part of a series of ambient music playlists I’ve developed for the 8 seasons of the solar year, which you can read more about here:
This fourth playlist in the series, “Nova,” is meant to capture the transitional season between spring and summer. It is a playlist for May 1 - June 21. This is a time of energy, growth, vitality, fecundity, and high adventure. New life has finally come into its full fruition!
While the astronomical summer doesn’t technically start until the solstice on June 21st, since ancient times, the beginning of May has been recognized across the northern hemisphere as the start of the agricultural summer. As the astronomical halfway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, May 1st was considered an important threshold in the final victory of light over darkness. The traditional Chinese solar calendar also places their “Start of Summer” this time of year, on May 5th.
In most parts of the northern hemisphere, this May represents the onset of reliably warm and sunny weather, which is why most people still experience this time of year as the “unofficial” start of summer. Most schools let out for the summer between mid-May and early June, and peak travel season begins in the U.S. on Memorial Day weekend, which is also when most swimming pools open.
This is the perfect time of year for getting outdoors and setting out on new adventures. Many people take time off work to go on extended vacations during this time. It is also the traditional season for weddings, when many couples embark the new adventure of committed life together. But even if you don’t have any big travel plans, this is still the perfect time to pack a pic-a-nic basket and head out-of-doors for an impromptu excursion: explore some nearby wooded trails, kayak down a river, visit a local park, or at the very least, step out into your yard to lay in the grass and bask in the long-awaited sunshine.
Agriculturally, this time of year brings the “first fruits” of the summer harvest. Cherries, strawberries, rhubarb, and many leafy greens come into season starting in May. The Jewish “Festival of Weeks,” known as Shavuot, marks the end of the 7-week Counting of the Omer, a 50-day period between the discarding of last year’s grain at Passover and the arrival of the first harvest of new wheat from this year’s crop.
Historically, bread made from sheaves of the new wheat crop were offered at the Temple in Jerusalem to the Creator of all things — in gratitude for protection and sustenance during the “wilderness” season of winter, and in grateful anticipation of the upcoming abundance of summer.
This is also a time of year when we celebrate the fecundity of human and animal life, including special days for honoring our parents — those through whom our own lives were created — on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Some cultures elect a symbolic “May Queen” and king during their May Day celebrations, crowning them with special wreaths of flowers. In many parts of Europe, it is still customary to celebrate May Day by wrapping colorful ribbons around a local “may pole” while singing and dancing, though no one seems to know how this tradition got started.
In Ireland, this cross-quarter season is known as “Beltaine,” a word meaning “bright fire.” Historically, people from the British Isles to the Germanic and Nordic regions lit great bonfires on the last night of April (“May Eve”), and communities gathered around them to dance, sing, and perform blessing rituals to protect their livestock before sending them out to graze in the open pastures. Household fires were also doused and re-lit from the communal bonfire, creating a clear demarcation between the winter hearth and the summer hearth.
In the Christian liturgical calendar, this fiery and energetic season aligns with the Feast of Pentecost, which takes place 50 days after Easter, and is deeply connected to the symbolism of the ancient Hebrew Festival of Weeks. Falling between May 10th and June 13th every year, Pentecost celebrates the “baptism of fire” that gave birth to the early church, as described in Acts 2. The presence of the Holy Spirit has been depicted in imagery throughout Christian history as flames of fire.
Like the cattle being driven out into the fields after receiving the protective blessings of the communal bonfire, the disciples of Jesus were driven out from their hiding places on the day of Pentecost, blessed by the fire of the Holy Spirit to courageously connect across linguistic and cultural barriers, to celebrate the diversity of God’s good creation and spread the sustaining hope of eternal life in Christ.
I have entitled this playlist “Nova” to capture this spirit of a bright, blazing new fire in a season of abundant sunshine. A nova is a star that suddenly increases in brightness. The Latin word simply means “new.” It is a time for celebrating the flourishing of new growth, life, and energy throughout all of creation.
Hildegard of Bingen used the word veriditas to describe this “greening” life force that is unleashed with a particular fervor this time of year.
O Fire of the Holy Spirit,
Life within the very life of all life —
Holy are You,
in giving life to all things.
Holy are You,
in anointing the broken.
Holy are You,
in cleansing festering wounds.
O Sacred Breath,
O Fire of Love,
O Sweetest taste in my breast
which fills my heart
with the fine scent of virtue.
O Clear Fountain
through whom we know
that God unites strangers
and gathers the lost.
O Breastplate guarding life
and the hope of uniting
all members into one body;
O Belt of Truth —
enfold those who offer blessing,
care for those ensnared by the enemy,
dissolve the bonds of those God deems to save.
O Mighty Path that runs through all,
from the heights
across the earth,
and into the depths,
You encompass all, and unify all.
From You, the clouds stream,
and the dew rises,
and the stones become moist,
and the springs burst forth into waterways,
and the earth sweats green with Life.
Eternally You draw out knowledge,
and bring joy through the inspiration of Your wisdom.
Therefore, praise to You —
You who are the very sound of praise,
You who are the very joy of life,
You who are hope and the greatest honor,
bestowing the gift of Light.—Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)
The songs on this playlist try to capture all of these themes:
The new life and vitality that has come into fruition
Finally getting outdoors to embark on new adventures
Delighting in the “first fruits” of the new agricultural season
Lively dancing around communal bonfires that shine with the energy of the sun
The lush “greening” of life all around, especially in open pastures under blue skies and radiant sunshine
The fire of the Holy Spirit that gives us the protective and sustaining energy of life in Christ, connecting us to one another and inspiring us to embrace the fullness of our creative potential.
Previous Playlists
Annum: Bloom
The third playlist in the series, "Bloom," is meant to capture the bright bursting of light and love and aliveness that marks the arrival of spring. Where I live in central NC, this is a playlist for March 21 - April 30.
Annum: Imbolc
The second playlist in the series, "Imbolc," is meant to capture the liminal transition between winter and spring. This is the seasoning of "quickening" - a time when the first kicks of new life can be felt. Where I live in central NC, this is a playlist for Feb 1 - March 20.
Annum: Epiphany
The first playlist in the series, “Epiphany,” is meant to capture not only the season of winter, but the beginning of the new year, and the liturgical season of Epiphany. It is a playlist for January.