May Day, the First of May in my native mainly rural and seafaring West Country mixes traditional and revived customs. The West Country comprises England's southwest counties of Somerset, Devon and Dorset together with the Duchy of Cornwall, the domain of the Duke of Cornwall, one of the hereditary land-owning titles of Prince Charles. Sayings associated with the month of May are sometimes disputed as relating to the blossom of the May (Hawthorn) tree. ‘Ne'er cast a clout till May is out' is one such saying, meaning do not discard any of your winter clothing until either the May blossom has come out or the month of May has finished. ‘May Day', repeated three times is also popularly and erroneously believed to be the international distress signal, used especially at sea and for other emergencies. In fact, phonetically identical, the actual phrase in French is (venez) m'aider, (come to) ‘help me', devised by a British airport radio officer in 1923. Where the actual May Day celebrations are concerned, marking the rebirth of summer, most local people care little about their ancient origins, which are rooted in fertility customs. These festivities are often re-enacted at schools as well as in the towns and villages, simply as an occasion for people to enjoy themselves with a nod to tradition. The May Day festival also reflects their love of flowers, which feature lavishly in the decorations. Customs include dancing round the maypole, a tall wooden pole, to which gay ribbons are attached and held in one hand of each of the young female dancers, who weave around one another and gradually plait the ribbons. They are usually dressed in white, bearing flowers in their hair, and presided over by the also white-clad May Queen, whose crown is floral and leads the local May Day procession accompanied sometimes by the cavorting figure of Jack-in-the Green or the Green Man. All male are the traditional Morris Dancers, quintessentially English folk dancers with their quaint costumes and music, and the Hobby Horses found in some towns' processions. Also robed in white, the Hobby Horse enactors variously wear equine masks or light frames attached to their bodies with appropriate appurtenances of a mane and a tail. Notably in Cornwall, the processions are accompanied by the stirring strains of the local brass and silver bands, a proud local tradition. The May Day festival in England survived despite several bans in the 16th and 17th centuries. On the last occasion, when abolished by Puritan rule under Oliver Cromwell, in some ways the fundamentalists of their day, it was reinstated after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the exiled King Charles II, the ‘Merry Monarch'. May Day subsequently became known as International Workers' Day and commemorates the historic struggle of working people throughout the world to gain basic rights, better wages and conditions. It is officially recognised as an official public holiday in most countries of the world, including Egypt, but excluding both the US and Britain, where events in the 19th century, together with those in other European countries, led to its declaration. In Britain, some 20 years ago the May Day holiday was replaced by the prosaic May Bank Holiday on the nearest Monday to the First of May, Monday being the traditional day for British bank (signifying public) holidays but missing the point. The US has the lacklustre Labor Day held on the first Monday in September marking the end of summer, a kind of reverse May Day. Key events leading up to the establishment of Workers' Day included massive general strikes in the US called by trades unions in the 1880s fighting for an eight-hour day. My most memorable May Day occurred three years ago when I attended its celebration in Cuba. Rising at dawn, we proceeded towards Revolution Square in Havana, the tropical dawn chorus gradually abating, the sky lightening and the excitement mounting. As we assembled, our ‘security' comprising young Cubans clad in jeans and T-shirts lined up on all sides of the vast square, an impressive brass band struck up which was joined by a choir and subsequently other local music. This was the first May Day after the Revolution, from which Fidel Castro was absent because of his health, and was presided over by his brother Ra?l Castro and other ministers. The ceremony started at 8.00am exactly with brief speeches and the festive and revolutionary parade then began with contingents bearing banners from throughout the island, the participants numbering some one million, ten per cent of Cuba's population. It ended two hours later with a heartfelt rendering in different languages of the anthem the Internationale, "the international ideal unites the human race". Faraldi has lived in Upper Egypt and then Cairo, since 1991, working in higher education and as a researcher, writer and editor.
