This year, the May full moon coincides with the traditional Celtic festival celebrated by summer lovers all over the world— May Day on May 1. It marks the midpoint between the spring equinox and the summer solstice.
For May Day, we recommend picking flowers and tying colorful ribbons in your hair. And, if you’re feeling energetic, go dance in a field to make the vegetables grow faster…
May Day is a festival of light that is, today, a blend of festivals celebrating spring in Europe and the Catholic feast of Saint Joseph, patron saint of field laborers. The renewal of nature is celebrated with flowers, bonfires, and colorful ribbons.
In other countries, it is also Labor Day—but in Canada, it is celebrated in September.
We have a little plan to celebrate spring this Friday, May 1, 2026. The weather will be overcast and rainy, but rain helps the flowers grow.
The month of May will begin with the Flower Moon. The May full moon will reach its peak very early, at 3:23 p.m. in the sky above Montreal, but it will also be visible after sunset.
The full moon in May is called the Flower Moon in North America because this is the time of year when the trees are in bloom. The weather will be cloudy, so we’re not sure if we’ll be able to see it, but with a little spring magic, the clouds will part for May Day.
A coffee or a drink on a terrace
Spring is officially the season when we can enjoy the outdoors—and even if we have to put on a light sweater, we’ll celebrate the return of leaves on the trees and daffodils (for those who planted them at the right time) in the flower beds.
Our favorite terraces in Montreal are:
- The terrace of the FOIL Gallery, at 6560 Waverly Street
- The tiny terrace at Café Gotsoul, at 1970 Notre-Dame Street West
- The terrace at Romies, 465 McGill Street
A visit to a wildlife nature reserve
In spring, we have a wild urge to get away from the noise of construction, the gravel whipping our faces when the wind blows, the dust, and the smells of the city thawing. It’s natural, after all. We want to breathe in the fresh forest air, dip our toes in cold water, andcommune withnature. And May Day is the perfect day to do just that.
The Île Saint-Bernard Wildlife Refuge is very close to downtown Montreal, but the boardwalks suspended above the marshes give the impression of a stroll through a parallel world. The trees, mainly maples and oaks, turn green quickly in the spring, and tall grasses grow rapidly above the water.
You can see white-tailed deer, rabbits, lots of birds coming to nest, frogs and toads, turtles, foxes, bats… Don’t forget your camera and rain boots.
An exhibition blending art and the environment – Other Worlds by Jakob Kudsk Steensen
Jakob Kudsk Steensen’s “other worlds” consist of six major works created by the artist over the past ten years. The Danish artist prepares each of his works with in-depth ecological research, and each of his virtual “worlds” is rooted in a changing environment: Bora Bora, volcanic seabeds, geothermal springs.
The artist’s sound-and-video installations use the jerky movements of video games; you can wander through unreal worlds in virtual reality or by sitting in front of reanimated videos. The underwater backgrounds are digitized.
Speaking of tourism, Kudsk Steensen created a video exploring an abandoned idyllic tropical resort that moves like a 2000s computer game, which you watch, feeling vaguely nauseous, while sitting on a lounge chair.
Every new work we immerse ourselves in is like a piece of a dystopian, ultra-colorful universe that serves as a sublimating mirror of our world in decline. And as time goes on, these other worlds merge with reality—and it becomes more and more beautiful.
