Friday, May 1, 2015

Happy May Day!


What is May Day?

A celebration of Spring
A day of political protest
A neopagan festival
A Saint's feast day
A day for organized labor

In medieval England, people would go a-maying, or gathering fresh greenery and flowers from the woods and fields. This was also known as 'bringing in the May'.  This was described in "The Court of Love" written in 1561.

And furth goth all the Court, both most and lest,
To feche the floures fressh, and braunche and blome;
And namlyhawthorn brought both page and grome.
With fressh garlandespartie blewe and whyte,
And thaim rejoysen in their greet delyt.



Edited to add that you may place your mouse pointer over the strange words to see the translation.


Are there any May Day celebrations in your area?

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5 comments:

  1. Hi Linda - there are usually lots of May Day celebrations going on - but they may happen over the weekend .. seeing as today is a working day. It is cold ... so am glad I'm not out and about a-Maying! Welcome and enjoy your May Day .. cheers Hilary

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    1. Hi Hilary! I don't know of any May Day celebrations here. It has been a cool day with rain and sunshine, sometimes both at the same time.

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  2. This is interesting stuff I didn't know! I can see everyone heading out picking greenery and flowers to bring inside. I'd do that here except our allergies are so bad we close our windows up tight against the yellow clouds pollen. Happy AMaying!

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    1. I bet it's a great time of year to go to the Green Dragon. That is such a cool place. Sorry you are suffering with the pollen. We still have pollen, but to me it doesn't seem as bad as some years...more rain maybe.

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  3. No May Day celebrations here, but I like the idea of heading out into the forest and picking wild flowers. We have a few absolutely stunning days lately. The ones that make just want to sit outside. It's still cool enough to enjoy it, but it won't be for long.

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