May Day
May Day | |
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1 May |
May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on
International Workers' Day is also called "May Day" but the two are unrelated.
Origins and celebrations
The earliest known May celebrations appeared with the
Maiouma was celebrated at least as early as the 2nd century AD, when records show expenses for the month-long festival were appropriated by Emperor Commodus.[12] According to the 6th-century chronicles of John Malalas, the Maiouma was a "nocturnal dramatic festival, held every three years and known as Orgies, that is, the Mysteries of Dionysus and Aphrodite" and that it was "known as the Maioumas because it is celebrated in the month of May-Artemisios". During this time, enough money was set aside by the government for torches, lights, and other expenses to cover a 30-day festival of "all-night revels."[13] The Maiouma was celebrated with splendorous banquets and offerings. Its reputation for licentiousness caused it to be suppressed during the reign of Emperor Constantine, though a less debauched version of it was briefly restored during the reigns of Arcadius and Honorius, only to be suppressed again during the same period.[12]
A later May festival celebrated in
Since the 18th century, many
The best known modern May Day traditions, observed both in Europe and North America, include dancing around the
In the late 20th century, many
Germany
In rural regions of Germany, especially the
In the
May Day was not established as a public holiday until Nazi Germany declared 1 May a "national workers' day" in 1933. As Labour Day, many political parties and unions host activities related to work and employment.
Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, May Day is traditionally considered a holiday of love and May as a month of love. The celebrations of spring are held on 30 April when a maypole ("májka" in Czech) is erected—a tradition possibly connected to Beltane, since bonfires are also lit on the same day. The event is similar to German Walpurgisnacht, its public holiday on 30 April. On 31 May, the maypole is taken down in an event called Maypole Felling.
On 1 May, couples in love kiss under a blooming tree. According to the ethnographer Klára Posekaná, this is not an old habit. It most likely originated around the beginning of the 20th century in an urban environment, perhaps in connection with Karel Hynek Mácha's poem Máj (which is often recited during these days) and Petřín. This is usually done under a cherry, an apple or a birch tree.
Sweden
The more traditional festivities have moved to the day before, Walpurgis Night ("Valborgsmässoafton"), known in some locales as simply "Last of April" and often celebrated with bonfires and a good bit of drinking. The first of May is instead celebrated as International Workers' Day.
Ireland
May Day has been celebrated in Ireland since pagan times as the feast of Beltane and in latter times as Mary's day. Traditionally, bonfires were lit to mark the coming of summer and to grant luck to people and livestock. Officially Irish May Day holiday is the first Monday in May. The tradition of a MayBush was reported as being suppressed by law and the magistrates in Dublin in the 18th century.[20] Old traditions such as bonfires are no longer widely observed, though the practice still persists in some places across the country. Limerick, Clare and many other people in other counties still keep on this tradition, including areas in Dublin city such as Ringsend.[21]
Scotland
May Day has been celebrated in Scotland for centuries. It was previously closely associated with the Beltane festival.[22] Reference to this earlier celebration is found in poem 'Peblis to the Play', contained in the Maitland Manuscripts of 15th- and 16th-century Scots poetry:
At Beltane, quhen ilk bodie bownis
To Peblis to the Play,
To heir the singin and the soundis;
The solace, suth to say,
Be firth and forrest furth they found
Thay graythis tham full gay;
God wait that wald they do that stound,
For it was their feast day the day they celebrate May Day,
Thay said, [...]
The poem describes the celebration in the town of Peebles in the Scottish Borders, which continues to stage a parade and pageant each year, including the annual ‘Common Riding’, which takes place in many towns throughout the Borders. As well as the crowning of a Beltane Queen each year, it is custom to sing ‘The Beltane Song’.[23]
John Jamieson, in his Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (1808) describes some of the May Day/Beltane customs which persisted in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in parts of Scotland, which he noted were beginning to die out.[24] In the nineteenth century, folklorist Alexander Carmichael (1832–1912), collected the song Am Beannachadh Bealltain (The Beltane Blessing) in his Carmina Gadelica, which he heard from a crofter in South Uist.[23]
Scottish May Day/Beltane celebrations have been somewhat revived since the late twentieth century. Both Edinburgh and Glasgow organise May Day festivals and rallies. In Edinburgh, the Beltane Fire Festival is held on the evening of May eve and into the early hours of May Day on the city's Calton Hill. An older Edinburgh tradition has it that young women who climb Arthur's Seat and wash their faces in the morning dew will have lifelong beauty. At the University of St Andrews, some of the students gather on the beach late on 30 April and run into the North Sea at sunrise on May Day, occasionally naked. This is accompanied by torchlit processions and much elated celebration.
Wales
In Wales the first day of May is known as Calan Mai or Calan Haf, and parallels the festival of Beltane and other May Day traditions in Europe.
Traditions would start the night before (Nos Galan Haf) with bonfires, and is considered a Ysbrydnos or spirit night when people would gather hawthorn (draenen wen) and flowers to decorate their houses, celebrating new growth and fertility. While on May Day celebrations would include summer dancing (dawnsio haf) and May carols (carolau mai or carolau haf) othertimes referred to as "singing under the wall" (canu dan y pared), May Day was also a time for officially opening a village green (twmpath chwarae).
Bulgaria
On May Day, Bulgarians celebrate Irminden (or Yeremiya, Eremiya, Irima, Zamski den). The holiday is associated with snakes and lizards and rituals are made in order to protect people from them. The name of the holiday comes from the prophet Jeremiah, but its origins are most probably pagan.
It is said that on the days of the Holy Forty or Annunciation snakes come out of their burrows, and on Irminden their king comes out. Old people believe that those working in the fields on this day will be bitten by a snake in summer.
In western Bulgaria people light fires, jump over them and make noises to scare snakes. Another custom is to prepare "podnici" (special clay pots made for baking bread).
This day is especially observed by pregnant women so that their offspring do not catch "yeremiya"—an illness due to evil powers.
England
Traditional English May Day
The early May bank holiday on the first Monday in May was created in 1978; May Day itself – 1 May – is not a public holiday in England (unless it falls on a Monday). In February 2011, the
Unlike the other Bank Holidays and common law holidays, the first Monday in May is taken off from (state) schools by itself, and not as part of a half-term or end of term holiday. This is because it has no Christian significance and does not otherwise fit into the usual school holiday pattern. (By contrast, the Easter Holiday can start as late—relative to Easter—as Good Friday, if Easter falls early in the year; or finish as early—relative to Easter—as Easter Monday, if Easter falls late in the year, because of the supreme significance of Good Friday and Easter Day to Christianity.)
May Day was abolished and its celebration banned by
In Cambridgeshire villages, young girls went May Dolling (going around the villages with dressed dolls and collecting pennies). This dressing of dolls and singing was said to have persisted into the 1960s in Swaffham Prior
Sing a song of May-time.
Sing a song of Spring.
Flowers are in their beauty.
Birds are on the wing.
May time, play time.
God has given us May time.
Thank Him for His gifts of love.
Sing a song of Spring.
In
In
Kingsbury Episcopi, Somerset, has seen its yearly May Day Festival celebrations on the May bank holiday Monday burgeon in popularity in the recent years. Since it was reinstated 21 years ago it has grown in size, and on 5 May 2014 thousands of revellers were attracted from all over the south-west to enjoy the festivities, with BBC Somerset covering the celebrations. These include traditional maypole dancing and morris dancing, as well as contemporary music acts.
Whitstable, Kent, hosts a good example of more traditional May Day festivities, where the Jack in the Green festival was revived in 1976 and continues to lead an annual procession of morris dancers through the town on the May bank holiday. A separate revival occurred in Hastings in 1983 and has become a major event in the town calendar. A traditional sweeps festival is performed over the May bank holiday in Rochester, Kent, where the Jack in the Green is woken at dawn on 1 May by Morris dancers.
At 7:15 p.m. on 1 May each year, the Kettle Bridge Clogs[33] morris dancing side dance across Barming Bridge (otherwise known as the Kettle Bridge), which spans the River Medway near Maidstone, to mark the official start of their morris dancing season.
The
Cornwall
Padstow in Cornwall holds its annual Obby-Oss (Hobby Horse) day of festivities. This is believed to be one of the oldest fertility rites in the UK; revellers dance with the Oss through the streets of the town and even though the private gardens of the citizens, accompanied by accordion players and followers dressed in white with red or blue sashes who sing the traditional "May Day" song. The whole town is decorated with springtime greenery, and every year thousands of onlookers attend. Before the 19th century, distinctive May Day celebrations were widespread throughout West Cornwall, and are being revived in St Ives and Penzance.
Estonia
May Day or "Spring Day" (Kevadpüha) is a national holiday in Estonia celebrating the arrival of spring.
More traditional festivities take place throughout the night before and into the early hours of 1 May, on the Walpurgis Night (Volbriöö).
Finland
In
France
On 1 May 1561, King Charles IX of France received a lily of the valley as a lucky charm. He decided to offer a lily of the valley each year to the ladies of the court. At the beginning of the 20th century, it became custom to give a sprig of lily of the valley, a symbol of springtime, on 1 May. The government permits individuals and workers' organisations to sell them tax-free on that single day. Nowadays, people may present loved ones either with bunches of lily of the valley or dog rose flowers.[35]
Greece
1 May is a day that celebrates Spring.
Maios (Latin Maius), the month of May, took its name from the goddess Maia (Gr Μαία, the nurse), a Greek and Roman goddess of fertility. The day of Maios (Modern Greek Πρωτομαγιά) celebrates the final victory of the summer against winter as the victory of life against death. The celebration is similar to an ancient ritual associated with another minor demi-god Adonis which also celebrated the revival of nature. There is today some conflation with yet another tradition, the revival or marriage of Dionysus (the Greek God of theatre and wine-making). This event, however, was celebrated in ancient times not in May but in association with the Anthesteria, a festival held in February and dedicated to the goddess of agriculture Demeter and her daughter Persephone. Persephone emerged every year at the end of winter from the Underworld. The Anthesteria was a festival of souls, plants and flowers, and Persephone's coming to earth from Hades marked the rebirth of nature, a common theme in all these traditions.
What remains of the customs today, echoes these traditions of antiquity. A common, until recently, May Day custom involved the annual revival of a youth called Adonis, or alternatively of Dionysus, or of Maios (in Modern Greek Μαγιόπουλο, the Son of Maia). In a simple theatrical ritual, the significance of which has long been forgotten, a chorus of young girls sang a song over a youth lying on the ground, representing Adonis, Dionysus or Maios. At the end of the song, the youth rose up and a flower wreath was placed on his head.
The most common aspect of modern May Day celebrations is the preparation of a flower wreath from wild flowers, although as a result of urbanisation there is an increasing trend to buy wreaths from flower shops. The flowers are placed on the wreath against a background of green leaves and the wreath is hung either on the entrance to the family house/apartment or on a balcony. It remains there until midsummer night. On that night, the flower wreaths are set alight in bonfires known as Saint John's fires. Youths leap over the flames consuming the flower wreaths. This custom has also practically disappeared, like the theatrical revival of Adonis/Dionysus/Maios, as a result of rising urban traffic and with no alternative public grounds in most Greek city neighbourhoods.
Italy
In Italy it is called Calendimaggio or cantar maggio a seasonal feast held to celebrate the arrival of spring. The event takes its name from the period in which it takes place, that is, the beginning of May, from the Latin calenda maia. The Calendimaggio is a tradition still alive today in many regions of Italy as an allegory of the return to life and rebirth: among these
Calendimaggio can be historically noted in Tuscany as a mythical character who had a predominant role and met many of the attributes of the god
It is a celebration that dates back to ancient peoples, and is very integrated with the rhythms of nature, such as the
Portugal
"Maias" is a superstition throughout Portugal, with special focus on the northern territories and rarely elsewhere. Maias is the dominant naming in Northern Portugal, but it may be referred to by other names, including Dia das Bruxas (Witches' day), O Burro (the Donkey, referring to an evil spirit) or the last of April, as the local traditions preserved to this day occur on that evening only. People put the yellow flowers of broom, the bushes are known as giestas. The flowers of the bush are known as Maias, which are placed on doors or gates and every doorway of houses, windows, granaries, currently also cars, which the populace collect on the evening of 30 April when the Portuguese brooms are blooming, to defend those places from bad spirits, witches and the evil eye. The placement of the May flower or bush in the doorway must be done before midnight.
These festivities are a continuum of the "Os Maios" of Galiza. In ancient times, this was done while playing traditional night-music. In some places, children were dressed in these flowers and went from place to place begging for money or bread. On 1 May, people also used to sing "Cantigas de Maio", traditional songs related to this day and the whole month of May.
The origin of this tradition can be traced to the Catholic Church story of Mary and Joseph fleeing to Egypt to protect Jesus from Herod. It was said that brooms could be found at the door of the house holding Jesus, but when Herod's soldiers arrived to the place they found every door decorated with brooms.
Romania
On May Day, the
The day is also called ziua pelinului ("
Other apotropaic rites include, in some areas of the country, people washing their faces with the morning dew (for good health) and adorning the gates for good luck and abundance with green branches or with birch saplings (for the houses with maiden girls). The entries to the animals' shelters are also adorned with green branches. All branches are left in place until the wheat harvest when they are used in the fire which will bake the first bread from the new wheat.
On May Day eve, country women do not work in the field as well as in the house to avoid devastating storms and hail coming down on the village.
Arminden is also ziua boilor (oxen day) and thus the animals are not to be used for work, or else they could die or their owners could get ill.
It is said that the weather is always good on May Day to allow people to celebrate.
Serbia
"Prvomajski uranak" (Reveille on 1 May) is a folk tradition and feast that consists of the fact that on 1 May, people go in the nature or even leave the day before and spend the night with a camp fire. Most of the time, a dish is cooked in a kettle or in a barbecue. Among Serbs this holiday is widespread. Almost every town in Serbia has its own traditional first-of-may excursion sites, and most often these are green areas outside the city.[36]
Spain
May Day is celebrated throughout the country as Los Mayos (lit. "the Mays") often in a similar way to "Fiesta de las Cruces" in many parts of Hispanic America. One such example, in Galicia, is the festival "Fiesta de los Mayos" (or "Festa dos Maios" in Galician, the local language). It has a celtic origin (from the festivity of Beltane)[37] and consists of different traditions, such as representations around a decorated tree or sculpture. People sing popular songs (also called maios,) making mentions of social and political events during the past year, sometimes under the form of a converse, while they walk around the sculpture with the percussion of two sticks. In Lugo[38] and in the village of Vilagarcía de Arousa[39] it was usual to ask a tip to the attendees, which used to be a handful of dry chestnuts (castañas maiolas), walnuts or hazelnuts. Today the tradition became a competition where the best sculptures and songs receive a prize.[40]
In the Galician city of Ourense this day is celebrated traditionally on 3 May, the day of the Holy Cross, that in the Christian tradition replaced the tree "where the health, life and resurrection are," according to the introit of that day's mass.[41]
North America
Canada
May Day is celebrated in some parts of the provinces of British Columbia, Quebec, New Brunswick and Ontario.
Toronto
In Toronto, on the morning of 1 May, various Morris Dancing troops from Toronto and Hamilton gather on the road by Grenadier Cafe, in High Park to "dance in the May". The dancers and crowd then gather together and sing traditional May Day songs such as Hal-An-Tow and Padstow.
British Columbia
Celebrations often take place not on 1 May but during the Victoria Day long weekend, later in the month and when the weather is likely to be better. The longest continually observed May Day in the British Commonwealth is held in the city of New Westminster, BC. There, the first May Day celebration was held on 4 May 1870.[42]
United States
Main: Labor Day vs. May Day
May Day was also celebrated by some early European settlers of the American continent. In some parts of the United States, May baskets are made. These are small baskets usually filled with flowers or treats and left at someone's doorstep. The giver rings the bell and runs away.[43]
Modern May Day ceremonies in the U.S. vary greatly from region to region and many unite both the holiday's "Green Root" (pagan) and "Red Root" (labour) traditions.[44]
May Day celebrations were common at women's colleges and academic institutions in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, a tradition that continues at Bryn Mawr College[45] and Brenau University[46] to this day.
In
Hawaii
In
See also
- Flores de Mayo, a similar holiday celebrated throughout the month of May in the Philippines
- Beltane, the Gaelic May Day festival
- Fiesta de las Cruces, a holiday celebrated 3 May in many parts of Spain and Hispanic America
- List of films set around May Day
- List of occasions known by their dates
- May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary
- Maypole
- May Queen
- Dano, a holiday celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month in Korea
References
- ^ ISBN 9781598842050.
- ^ "May Day Celebrations". Historic UK. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
- ^ "May Day". Encyclopædia Britannica. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica, inc. 26 July 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ ISBN 978-0-19-820570-8.
- ^ Joshua, Essaka (2016). The Romantics and the May Day Tradition. Routledge. p. 16.
- ^ Pearse, R. The festival of the Maiuma at Antioch. 2 July 2012. Retrieved 2009-Apr-09 at https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2012/07/02/the-festival-of-the-maiuma-at-antioch/
- ^ Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic, p. 249.
- ^ Festus, 298 in the edition of Lindsay.
- ^ P.Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer, 1912, München ; H.Le Bonniec, Le culte de Cérès à Rome des origines à la fin de la République, 1958, Paris; Kurt Latte, Römische Religionsgeschichte , 1960, Leipzig; P.Pouthier, Ops et la conception divine de l’abondance dans la religion romaine jusqu’à la mort d’Auguste, BEFAR 242, 1981, Rome.
- ^ Kurt Latte, Römische Religionsgeschichte , 1960, Leipzig.
- ^ Scullard, Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic, p. 110.
- ^ a b Christopher Ecclestone. 2009. Festivals. Antiochopedia = Musings Upon Ancient Antioch. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
- ^ Malalas, Chronicle 284-285
- ISBN 9781598842050.
Her feast day commemorates both the movement of her relics to Eichstatt and her canonization, both of which occurred on May 1.
- ^ a b Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford University Press, 1996. pp. 218–225
- ^ "Special Devotions for Months". The Catholic Encyclopedia. 1911. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
- ^ a b "Saint Joseph". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
- ^ "Charming May Day Baskets". www.seedsofknowledge.com. 12 April 2014. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
- ^ E.g. Douglas Todd: "May Day dancing celebrates neo-pagan fertility", Vancouver Sun, 1 May 2012 Archived 27 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine: accessed 8 May 2014
- ^ "Dublin". Hibernian Journal; or, Chronicle of Liberty. 1 May 1776. p. 5.
- ^ Hurley, David (30 April 2013). "Warning issued ahead of Limerick's May Eve bonfires". Limerick Leader. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
- ^ "Dictionary of the Scots Language :: DOST :: Beltane n." dsl.ac.uk.
- ^ a b "The Songs and Rhymes of May" (PDF). Traditional Arts & Culture Scotland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
- ^ "Jamieson's Dictionary Online". scotsdictionary.com.
- )
- ^ "Merry Maypole". octaviahill.org. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
- ^ "(Reprints of) The Norwich Mercury April 10th - May 15th, 1731". The Norwich Mercury. May 1731. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
- ^ Curtis, Polly (4 February 2011). "Mayday for May Day: Bank Holiday May Move to 'Most Unexceptional of British' October Slot – Minister Says Swap Would Extend Tourist Season But Unions See Tory Plot to Get Rid of Workers' Day". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
- ISBN 0-19-285447-X.
- ^ Idylls of the King : Guinevere, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1859
- ^ "May Day Traditions". enidporterproject.org.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
- ^ Staff (1 May 2008). "Jumpers Flout May Day Bridge Ban". BBC News. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
- ^ Cordery, Steve. "Kettle Bridge Clogs". Kettle Bridge Clogs. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
- ISBN 978-1440836596.
During the Walpurgisnacht Walpurgisnacht, or Walpurgis Night, is one of the names given to the night of 30 April , the eve of Saint Walpurga's feast day that falls on 1 May. Since Saint Walpurga's feast occurs on 1 May the saint is associated with May Day, especially in Finland and Sweden.
- ^ May Day in France Timeanddate.com.
- ^ "Celebrate May Day, Serbian Style". Balkan Insight. 1 May 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
- ^ "1 de mayo, Día del Beltane". elcorreogallego.es.
- ^ "Festa dos Maios en Lugo".
- ^ "turismo01". Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
- ^ Faro de Vigo (17 April 2015). "La Festa dos Maios contará con más de mil euros en premios".
- ^ Viva Cristo Rey (2 May 2009). "Sermón Dominical".
- ^ Francis, Valerie; Miller, Archie (May 1995). Official Programme Celebrating the 125th Anniversary of May Day and New Westminster Homecoming Reunion.
- ^ Weeks, Lincoln (30 April 2015). "A Forgotten Tradition: May Basket Day". NPR: History Department. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
- ^ Sheehy, Colleen J. (Ed., 1999). Theatre of Wonder: 25 Years in the Heart of the Beast. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp. 79–89.
- ^ "Traditions". Bryn Mawr College. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
- ^ Morrison, David (13 April 2012). ""May Day" reunion weekend festivities draw more than 300 to Brenau campus". Brenau University. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
- ^ "MayDay · In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre". In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre. Retrieved 8 May 2017.
- ^ Olson, Dan (May 2012). "Minnesota Sounds and Voices: Morris Dancers welcome spring in a centuries-old tradition". mprnews.org. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
- ^ "May Day is Lei Day". Flowerleis. Archived from the original on 29 June 2017.
- ^ Jericho (21 January 2024). "Welcome Lei Traditions From Polynesia to the Philippines". LikhaDito. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
- ^ "A History of Lei Day" (PDF). City and Council of Honolulu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2009.
External links
- "Meet Thomas Morton of Merrymount".
Extensive visual, textual and musical studies of American May Day customs since the first Maypole Revels were held at the Ma-Re Mount or Merrymount plantation on Massachusetts Bay in May 1627, hosted by Englishman Thomas Morton; and, last year the state of Massachusetts' Governor Deval Patrick proclaimed May 1 as Thomas Morton Day
- "May Day classroom resources". Archived from the original on 3 January 2013.
- "Children Maypole Dancing – Archive Footage".
- "Website with information on modern Hawaiian Lei Day celebration with information on the lei as a traditional Hawaiian cultural art".
- "Traditional May Day Songs with references".
- "Dancing up the Sun – May Day Morris Dancing celebrations in North America".
- "May Day Customs and Celebrations".