This was a big holiday in my hometown in Southwestern PA. The May Day Parade was one of two parades we had every year. This holiday was usurped by the Communists, so feel free to celebrate even if you’re not a communist.
i am sorting out my ribbons
of pink and yellow and none
to a blackthorn pole I now attach
as the May Day has begun
also tuning up pipes
Tansy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duZsLcZAdI4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxt2DS-9kDo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrdl4ijru8o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stmiyeLsErw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KO90EdKB-g
David
This is the Hubble Deep Space Field:
Today, we strolled around downtown Annapolis to admire the floral baskets many residents arrange
on their doors or front porches on May 1. My friend Katherine takes her participation in this annual
event very seriously. The Annapolis Garden Club, as I understand it, is the kind of civic
organization which only accepts a certain number of members, and holds meetings to narrow down
precisely how the cucumber sandwiches must be constructed for their luncheons. These ladies
march around town between 10 and 12, in groups of 4, tucking participation certificates in entries,
giving pink ribbons and lollipops to the entries created by children, and awarding coveted blue
ribbons to the few arrangements they deem meritorious. Katherine refers to these club members as
“the biddies” and takes pains not to be on her street when they are apt to be judging her entry.
She was delighted, today, to receive her 3rd or 4th blue ribbon, biddies or no. Here is her basket–
the theme, she says, is the Hubble Deep Space Field. I guess you’d call it more inspired than illustrative.
Anyway, Katherine is so into this event that I got a nice champagne lunch out of it just for being there.
If I lived in downtown and could participate, my theme, I decided, would be voodoo and include shrunken
heads and skeletons, along with flowers. I don’t think the biddies would care for it.
“Usurped”? - Adopted, certainly.
But Mayday is the big celebration for the labouring humans, so I wouldn’t begrudge it.
We had a firepit night. It rained a bit, but we had a good time nonetheless. One day maybe we’ll get a Maypole.
Yep, usurped.
From Wiki:
The earliest May Day celebrations appeared in pre-Christian times, with the festival of Flora, the Roman Goddess of flowers, and the Walpurgis Night celebrations of the Germanic countries. It is also associated with the Gaelic Beltane. Many pagan celebrations were abandoned or Christianized during the process of conversion in Europe. A more secular version of May Day continues to be observed in Europe and North America. In this form, May Day may be best known for its tradition of dancing the Maypole and crowning of the Queen of the May. Various Neopagan groups celebrate reconstructed (to varying degrees) versions of these customs on May the 1st. The day was a traditional summer holiday in many pre-Christian European pagan cultures. While February 1 was the first day of Spring, May 1 was the first day of summer; hence, the summer solstice on June 25 (now June 21) was Midsummer.
Happy segundo de Mayo.