May Day is not just about maypoles and may queens....
May day had its origins, as indeed do most of our holidays and festivals, Christmas, Easter etc, in ancient Pagan rites. Early British Christians didn't exactly give up their old ways, they fitted Christianity around them.
May Day is linked to the Celtic festival of Beltane.However, the earliest May Day celebrations can also trace their history back to the Romans and the festival of Flora, goddess of flowers and the Walpirgis Night celebrations of Germanic countries and the Gaelic Beltane.The Maypole, traditionally made from birch has its origins in the Germanic pagan tradition.
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(Wikipedia, May Day, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Day (as of May 7, 2012, 17:24 GMT).
(Wikipedia, May Day, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Day (as of May 7, 2012, 17:24 GMT).
At the time of the arrival of Christianity, the pagan festivals lost their religious character and became secular festivals instead or were just conveniently merged with the Christian holidays.
In Medieval times , May day became dedicated to Robin Hood, and songs and plays were performed up and down the country.
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In the Roman Catholic tradition May is 'Mary's month' and May day usually a celebration of the blessed Virgin Mary.
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There might be a link in this to the tradition of Crowning a May Queen to mark the May crowning of the Virgin Mary.
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A link of the May day celebration to the theme of work is that since the reform of the Catholic calendar, may 1st is the feast f St. Joseph the Worker, patron saint of workers. seeding was finished by this date in May, and it was a convenient time to give farm labourers a day off
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May day celebrations were like most others, banned by the Puritans, but reinstated after the restoration of the monarchy with Charles II in 1660.There is a theory that Mayfair in London takes its name from a particularly rowdy May festival of the eighteenth century
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On May 1st 1704, the Act of Union came into effect, joining England and Scotland.
Although May day has long been a celebration, the idea of a Bank Holiday for it is a far more recent tradition, invented by Michael Foot in 1978, just before he became leader of the Labour Party.many were actually against the idea of a may day holiday, saying it was a Communist idea because behind the iron Curtain, May 1st was the date for celebrating International Worker's day. This commemorates four anarchists executed for struggling for an eight hour working day in 1886 in Chicago.(libcom.org - class struggle online)
There have been thoughts in Parliament of scrapping the May Day bank holiday, to be replaced with one in October, perhaps to co-inside with Trafalgar day on October 21st, the idea being to create a 'United Kingdom Day'. Fascist governments in Portugal, Italy, Germany and Spain, abolished the workers holiday. These changes are seen by some as right wing attempts to repress the message of International Worker's Day. Len McClusky ( Unite Union) said ' The May Day holiday has a history and a tradition in its own right. It is when we celebrate the contribution of working people'....
Several years of May Day celebrations have been marked by demonstrations and serious rioting
There is actually no automatic right to time off in the UK on Bank Holidays, although most people do get time off or extra pay for working on a Bank holiday.
Almost as if setting the trend, it poured with rain on the first May Day Bank Holiday
Valerie
In Medieval times , May day became dedicated to Robin Hood, and songs and plays were performed up and down the country.
In the Roman Catholic tradition May is 'Mary's month' and May day usually a celebration of the blessed Virgin Mary.
There might be a link in this to the tradition of Crowning a May Queen to mark the May crowning of the Virgin Mary.
A link of the May day celebration to the theme of work is that since the reform of the Catholic calendar, may 1st is the feast f St. Joseph the Worker, patron saint of workers. seeding was finished by this date in May, and it was a convenient time to give farm labourers a day off(photo credit: alvarezperea via photo pin cc)
May day celebrations were like most others, banned by the Puritans, but reinstated after the restoration of the monarchy with Charles II in 1660.There is a theory that Mayfair in London takes its name from a particularly rowdy May festival of the eighteenth century
( photo credit: Crossett Library Bennington College via photo pin cc )
On May 1st 1704, the Act of Union came into effect, joining England and Scotland.
Although May day has long been a celebration, the idea of a Bank Holiday for it is a far more recent tradition, invented by Michael Foot in 1978, just before he became leader of the Labour Party.many were actually against the idea of a may day holiday, saying it was a Communist idea because behind the iron Curtain, May 1st was the date for celebrating International Worker's day. This commemorates four anarchists executed for struggling for an eight hour working day in 1886 in Chicago.(libcom.org - class struggle online)
There have been thoughts in Parliament of scrapping the May Day bank holiday, to be replaced with one in October, perhaps to co-inside with Trafalgar day on October 21st, the idea being to create a 'United Kingdom Day'. Fascist governments in Portugal, Italy, Germany and Spain, abolished the workers holiday. These changes are seen by some as right wing attempts to repress the message of International Worker's Day. Len McClusky ( Unite Union) said ' The May Day holiday has a history and a tradition in its own right. It is when we celebrate the contribution of working people'....
Several years of May Day celebrations have been marked by demonstrations and serious rioting
There is actually no automatic right to time off in the UK on Bank Holidays, although most people do get time off or extra pay for working on a Bank holiday.
Almost as if setting the trend, it poured with rain on the first May Day Bank Holiday
Valerie
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