By Lubna Abdel-Aziz So you thought May 1st celebrates International Worker's Day! Just look around you! "All Nature wears one grin," exhibiting its spectacular vistas, ablaze with sunshine, bluebells and forget-me-nots. It dresses Earth in its finest greens, it urges the wild plants to bloom, the garden crops to sprout, the trees to blossom, and the birds to sing. Following the dark winter days and the long winter nights, Nature celebrates Earth's revival. It is the time for joy and hope, for love and romance! Could all this have escaped the senses ot early man? May Day is a feast of ancient origins. Egyptians, Babylonians, Indians, Romans and others, celebrated the new season of beauty and pleasure. Records of the earliest May Day festivities of the Roman Empire describe the celebrations of Floralia, in honour of Flora, goddess of fruit and flowers, or Maia goddess of spring and growth. The feast was held annually from April 28th to May 3rd. At that time February 1st was the first day of spring, while May 1st was the first day of summer. That explains why the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, was mid- summer, and not the beginning of summer as it is now. With the conquest of much of Europe between 300 BC and 100 AD, the Romans brought their new traditions to each native lore! Such celebrations were held in Germany, France, Italy, etc, but never taken so earnestly as with the Celts of the British Isles. Perhaps it was the added influence of the Druids, whose name means "oak tree" or "knowing the oak tree," regarded the oak and the mistletoe as sacred and frequented the forests as worshipping grounds. They held Druid festivals at the beginning of each season. As Europe became Christianized the pagan holidays lost their religious character. Many indigenous celebrations were barred or Christianized, as with Christmas, Easter and All Saints Day. Others, like May Day became popular secular celebrations. In Medieval England, May Day became the favourite holiday of many English villages. People gathered spring flowers to decorate their homes and churches. Girls would wash their faces in the dew of early morning because they believed this made them more beautiful all year. Traditional dances circled a Maypole, holding the ends of multicoloured ribbons until it was covered with a beautifully plaited pattern. They sang madrigals, exchanged gifts and wooed their loved ones. May Day was a day of courting throughout Europe. This was well-depicted in the film version of Camelot, as Guinevere sang with joy and gusto around the Maypole: " It's May. it's May, the lusty month of May." It was customary for everyone to go a-Maying early on May Day. Young girls would make May garlands with leaves and flowers. The highlight of the day was the choosing of the May Queen, the human replica of the goddess Flora, a custom which lingers on to the present day, as seen in the movie Picnic, with Kim Novak crowned as May Queen. In France, King Charles IX received a lily of the valley as a lucky charm on May 1st 1561. It became a French custom to offer a fresh sprig of lily of the valley as a symbol of springtime. It also became the flower of May. In Germany young people dance around the maypole, build bonfires and eat and drink wurst and beer as they "Tanz in dem Mai" (dance into May). The early settlers in America, such as the Puritans, frowned on such frivolous celebrations, but accepted the custom of offering May Day baskets. Filled with spring flowers, candy, and other treats, the baskets are left at someone's doorstep, the giver remains unknown, and in 1920 in Hawaii, May Day became Lei Day, what else! A May Day parade is held in several American cities. It was the American city of Chicago, Illinois that inspired the May 1st celebrations of Labour Day or International Worker's Day. American workers were demanding shorter working days and more humane conditions. They had achieved some of their demands, but a 10-hour day was much too strenuous. In 1884 the Federation of Organized Trades and Labour Unions declared that 8 hours would constitute a legal day's work effective May 1st 1886. When workers went on strike on May 3rd 1886, police fired into the peacefully assembled crowd, killing four and wounding many more. A mass rally was held the following day in Haymarket Square to protest police brutality. The rally was peaceful until the end when 180 policemen ordered the crowd to disperse. An unknown person threw a bomb killing a police officer and wounding 70 others. The police fired back. The heads of the movement were charged with conspiracy to commit murder, even though only one was present at the rally. All were sentenced to death despite the lack of evidence connecting them with the person who threw the bomb. Four were hanged on November 11th 1887, one committed suicide, and three were pardoned in 1893. The Congress of World Socialist parties in Paris in 1889 voted to support the US labour movement's demands of an 8- hour day rather than the gruelling 10-hour day. They chose the date of May 1st 1890, as the day when labourers all around the world would demonstrate in solidarity with their American brethren of Chicago, who started their uprising on May 1st. This date came to symbolize the long and bloody struggle of the worker's labourers throughout the world with the exception of the US and Canada. It is rather ironic that the country that inspired the May Day festival of the working class does not celebrate it. Following more violence with the American Railway Union and Pullman workers, a Labour Day on the first Monday of September of 1894 was passed by Congress. . In the Roman Catholic tradition, May is a sacred month honouring the Blessed Virgin Mary. May Day is dedicated to a church mass, some school skits, and adorning Mary's head with flowers. The French select May Queens in their churches to lead the procession in honour of the Virgin Mary. The ancient Egyptians chose the egg to signify birth and resurrection. They buried eggs in their tombs, and the ancient Saxons also offered eggs to their pagan god of spring - Eastre. As for the international distress call "My Day May Day," it is the corrupt English translation of the Voulez vous "m'aidez, m'aidez." Now adopted universally, it is not remotely related to either May, Spring, or Labour. The whole world is celebrating one thing or another today. Let us join in the spirit of hope in the air we sniff, filled with promise of renewal and resurrection for the coming season. Hail bounteous May, that doth inspire Mirth and youth, and warm desire -- John Milton (1608-1674)
