The Origins of May Day

Subject: The Origins of May Day Tue Nov 04, 2008 11:31 pm

The origin of the May Day

as a day for celebration dates back to the days, even before the birth of Christ. And like many ancient festivals it too has a Pagan connection.

For the Druids of the British Isles, May 1 was the second most important holiday of the year. Because, it was when the festival of Beltane held. It was thought that the day divides the year into half. The other half was to be ended with the Samhain on November 1. Those days the May Day custom was the setting of new fire. It was one of those ancient New Year rites performed throughout the world. And the fire itself was thought to lend life to the burgeoning springtime sun. Cattle were driven through the fire to purify them. Men, with their sweethearts, passed through the smoke for seeing good luck.

Then the Romans came to occupy the British Isles. The beginning of May was a very popular feast time for the Romans. It was devoted primarily to the worship of Flora, the goddess of flowers. It was in her honor a five day celebration, called the Floralia, was held. The five day festival would start from April 28 and end on May 2. The Romans brought in the rituals of the Floralia festival in the British Isles. And gradually the rituals of the Floralia were added to those of the Beltane. And many of today's customs on the May Day bear a stark similarity with those combined traditions.

May day observance was discouraged during the Puritans. Though, it was relived when the Puritans lost power in England, it didn't have the same robust force. Gradually, it came to be regarded more as a day of joy and merriment for the kids, rather than a day of observing the ancient ferility rights.

Facewashing in May Dew:
Washing the face with May dew was yet another custom. There was a belief among the women in Great Britain and other parts of Europe those days that May Day dew has the power to restore beauty. This why in the Ozark Mountains, a cradle of American folklore, girls used to nurture a belief that having their faces washed with the early dawn dews on the May Day would help to be married to the man of her choice

MayPolesBy the Middle Ages every English village had its Maypole. The bringing in of the Maypole from the woods was a great occasion and was accompanied by much rejoicing and merrymaking. The Maypoles were of all sizes. And one village would vie with another to show who could produce the tallest Maypole. Maypoles were usually set up for the day in small towns, but in London and the larger towns they were erected permanently.

The Maypole tradition suffered a setback for about a couple of decades since the Puritan Long Parliament stopped it in 1644. However, with the return of the Stuarts, the Maypole reappeared and the festivities of May Day were again enjoyed. One of the great Maypoles, was
The changes brought about by the Reformation included attempts to do away with practices that were obviously of pagan origin. But the Maypole, or, May tree, was not issued in practice at the behest of the second Stuart.

Although they succeeded in doing this, Maypole with most of the other traditions, many still survived. And Maypole is one of them. In France it merely changed its name. In Perigord and elsewhere, the May Tree became the "Tree of Liberty" and was the symbol of the French Revolution. Despite the new nomenclature, the peasants treated the tree in the same traditional spirit. And they would dance around it the same way as their forefathers had always done.

Maypole Dancing
On the first day of May, English villagers woke up at daybreak to roam the countryside gathering blossoming flowers and branches. A towering maypole was set up on the village green. This pole, usually made of the trunk of a tall birch tree, was decorated with bright field flowers. The villagers then danced and sang around the maypole, accompanied by a piper.

Morris Dance
Another colorful feature of the this celebration was the energetic Morris dance. Groups of men dance together in costumes of traditional characters, often animal-men, in ceremonial folk dances. The central figure of the dances, usually an animal-man, varies considerably in importance. The name Morris is also associated with the horn dance held each year at Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire,England. This dance-procession includes six animal-men bearing deer antlers, three white and three black sets; a man-woman, or Maid Marian, and a fool.
These dances are still performed in England. And also survive in various parts of Europe, Asia, and, America. One such comparable surviving animal custom is the May Day procession of a man-horse, notably at Padstow, Cornwall. There, the central figure, "Oss Oss," is a witch doctor disguised as a horse and wearing a medicine mask. The dancers are attendants who sing the May Day Song, beat drums, and in turn act the horse or dance in attendance. The name Morris is also associated with groups of mummers who act, rather than dance, the death-and-survival rite at the turn of the year.

Throughout history, the Morris seems to have been common. It was imported from village festivities into popular entertainment after the invention of the court masque by Henry VIII. The word Morris apparently derived from "morisco," meaning "Moorish." Cecil Sharp, whose collecting of Morris dances preserved many from extinction, suggested that it might have arisen from the dancers' blacking their faces as part of the necessary ritual disguise. The name Morris dance is sometimes loosely applied to sword dances in which a group of men weave their swords into intricate patterns.

May Queen
Also part of the celebration was the crowning of a May Queen. When the sun rose, the maypole was decked with leaves, flowers and ribbons while dancing and singing went on around it. The Queen was chosen from the pretty girls of the village to reign over the May Day festivities. Crowned on a flower-covered throne, she was drawn in a decorated cart by young men or her maids of honor to the village green. She would be crowned there right on the green spot. She was set in an arbor of flowers and often the dancing was performed around her, rather than around the Maypole

Subject: Re: The Origins of May Day Tue Nov 04, 2008 11:36 pm

May Day in America
The Puritans frowned on May Day, so the day has never been celebrated with as much enthusiasm in the United States as in Great Britain. But the tradition of celebrating May Day by dancing and singing around a maypole, tied with colorful streamers or ribbons, survived as a part of the English tradition. The kids celebrating the day by moving back and forth around the pole with the the streamers, choosing of May queen, and hanging of May baskets on the doorknobs of folks -- are all the leftovers of the old European traditions.

May Day in Hawaii
In Hawaii the May Day is celebrated with the tradition of Lei. A festival of the natives of Hawaii, nurtured since time immemorial, Lei was officially celebrated first in 1929.

Though Lei is also thought to be in praise of the season of summer, it is celebrated in a very different way compared to the traditions associated with the European spring celebration.

The native islanders have some wonderful customs. They regard this day as a auspicious day. They greet the day with lei. A lei is a garland or necklace of flowers given in Hawaii as a token of welcome or farewell. Lei Day began in 1928.Leis are most commonly made of carnations, kika blossoms, ginger blossoms, jasmine blossoms, or orchids and are usually about 18 inches (46 cm) long.

Everyone gives the gift of a lei to another, putting it around the receiver's neck and accompanying it with the traditional kiss. Some Hawaiian celebrations are complete with pageants, a Lei Queen and her court.

While leaving the island a traveler customarily tosses the farewell lei onto the harbor waters. The drift of the lei back to the shore indicates that the person will someday return to the islands. The custom of wearing leis originated with the indigenous Hawaiians, who wove necklaces of leaves or ferns or sometimes strung dried shells, fruits, beads, or bright feathers for personal adornment. Hawaiians celebrate Lei Day on May 1, symbolizing their tradition of friendliness.

http://www.theholidayspot.com/mayday/hawaii.htm

May Day - Labor Day in Russia
But the idea really gained ground in other parts of the world with the International Socialist congress of 1889 in Paris. It was the congress that designating it as an international labor day. While in the United States and Canada, Labor Day still continues to be observed on the first Monday in September, rest of the world observes it on May 1 or other dates.

At present, the May Day connection, best known outside the Maypoles, is the celebration of the Russian Communists. It was in the 1920s, they inaugurated the May Day parades. It was a major holiday in the Soviet Union and other Communist countries, and also in many other parts of the world. Even in today's Russia it is an annual holiday devoted to the recognition of working people's contribution to society.A unique display of the most modern weapons and seemingly endless troops of soldiers is held in Moscow, the capital of Russia on this day. This is how May Day, once mainly a spring festival, has become a festival of the laboring class in Socialist countries

Mayday - Labor Day ConnectionIn 1884 the group held a parade on the first Monday of September. And then it passed a resolution to hold all future parades on that day designating it as Labor Day. The Knights of Labor soon came to be regarded as the most dominant of all labor unions in the US.
However, things changed. The year 1886 was a troubled one in labor relations. There were nearly 1,600 strikes, involving about 600,000 workers, with the eight-hour day being the most prominent item in the demands of labor. About half of these strikes were called in on May Day.
Now, some of those strikes were successful. But the failure of others and internal conflicts between skilled and unskilled members led to a decline in the Knights' popularity and influence.
The most serious blow to the unions came from a tragic occurrence. And this was what made the May 1 as an important day in the history of Labor Movement in America. Though it did not take place on May Day itself, but it came as a consequence whose origin was laid on that day.

It was one of the many strikes called for May Day in 1886. And it was against the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company in Chicago. The air was already heated with inflammatory speeches and debates. On May 3 a fighting broke out along the picket lines. And, when police intervened to restore order, several strikers were injured or killed. Union leaders called a protest meeting at Haymarket Square for the evening of May 4; but, it was there yet another gory incident took place as a result of a bomb explosion. Seven policemen were killed and many were injured. Eight unionists, alleged to be responsible for the incident, were arrested, tried, and convicted of murder. Four of them were hanged, and one committed suicide.

Following this tragedy the public sympathy with organized labors went down. The Knights of Labor did never gain ground after this. Though strikes went on to be held. Some other unions came to the forefront. One of them was an association of French Socialists, called the Second International. It was in 1889, they declared the May Day devoted to labor and its problem. They renamed it "Labor Day" and it was the occasion for important political demonstrations. In France, the Maypole had already regarded as the symbol of French Revolution. And perhaps the French union was partly motivated by that spirit behind the day.

Mayday - Lawday - LoyalityDay
The Maypole celebration apart, the May Day is also important to all average Americans for yet another reason. The Loyalty Day! Americans today celebrate May Day as a Loyalty Day. The day of parades of veterans, drum and bugle corps, Boy Scouts, visits to national shrines and doing things in the honor of the patriots. Schools, churches, fraternal societies and different organizations come alive tosponsor these events. The motto is to instill the zeal to 'remain loyal to America'. Specially among the children and the youth. Indeed, it is a day, meant for making all of you in America feel proud of your country. The county to which you belong.

However, its origin is not rooted long ago. Though the exact beginning of the date of observance is not known, the concept stemmed in the early 1930s. The bid to celebrate May Day as Loyalty Day came in rather as a counteractive bid. A bid to counteract the May Day Communist exhibitions in the United States. Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars thought that a challenge must be given to what they considered as the 'disruptive forces of the communism'. And they wanted that the loyalty of Americans to the American ideals must be asserted to prevent the growth of communism in America. So, in the early 1930s they began urging the institution of war veterans with organized parades and ceremonies. Other patriotic organizations joined in. And with the help of speaker's bureaus and an extensive letter-writing campaign, celebrations on the theme of loyalty to America took hold. This was aided by patriotic plays, oratory contests on national issues and tours to national shrines. These were sponsored by schools, churches, labor unions, fraternal societies and other groups.

While the concept came into being quite early in the '30s giving rise to various functions, it took until 1949 to proclaim the observance of Loyalty Day. And this was when forty nine states and territorial governors joined in. Thanks to the efforts of Senator Karl Mundt of North Dakota and Representative James E. Van Zandt of Pennsylvania. In May 1, 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower made it a day of national observance.

In 1932 some patriotic organizations were encouraged by the Loyalty Day concept and wanted to do something more to inspire loyalty to the nation. So, the concept of Americanism Day came into being to be celebrated on the same day of the Loyalty Day. The first Americanism parade was held in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1932. The day has since merged with Loyalty Day.
May Day is also celebrated as the Law Day. The day that teaches you to be guided by the statutes of state law.

For the last several years the American Bar Association has been sponsoring "Law Day" on

May 1st
The day was established by a joint resolution of Congress in 1961, and President Kennedy in the same year issued a proclamation urging its observance. There are numerous celebrations throughout the country. These are featured by essay contests, recitations, make believe trials, and radio and television shows . All of them are meant for impressing the Americans the nature of freedom they enjoy under the laws of state and federal government.

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