| The May Day Holiday: From macho to floral: Flowers | | | | delivering May Baskets, families planting the year's |
| do more than feed the bees, butterflies and | | | | annual gardens, and groups dancing around the May |
| hummingbirds while they fill our eyes with riots of | | | | Pole. Dancing the May Pole was a major event in |
| color after winters of gray and white, and offer | | | | Europe and America up until the mid 20th century. |
| fragrances that make us stop in our tracks. Some | | | | The dance was performed in school yards, at |
| also fold and swell into fruits to feed us for months | | | | mother-daughter tea parties, and at folk festivals. |
| in the future. But strikingly, flowers can sometimes | | | | Dates: The May Day holiday traditionally May 1st, with |
| even transcend "macho." | | | | some ancient Beltane holidays held on May 6th. Some |
| Take the ancient Romans, for example. Can you | | | | people see Beltane and May Day as one in the same. |
| think of any culture quite so macho? Yet each May, | | | | It was and still is a Celtic/Irish holiday considered a |
| they took time out to celebrate the return of | | | | day when the veils between the spirit world and |
| flowers. And when they met up with the Celts, who | | | | mortal world were thinner, and a day to celebrate |
| were also honoring flowers in spring, the two | | | | fertility. |
| festivals merged to continue the celebration for | | | | Changes to the May Day holiday: As has happened |
| years to come. | | | | since time began, different faiths will take saints and |
| Long ago, when May Day was embraced by entire | | | | festivals from other traditions and incorporate their |
| communities, the celebration was about uniting | | | | own meanings. Many ancient people held both fertility |
| humans with a spirit of nature. The Celts were | | | | festivals, and gatherings to help eligible young men |
| farming people, and the procession of seasons was | | | | and women meet in a socially acceptable manner for |
| meaningful and noteworthy. Early risers would go out | | | | possible future marriage. Some locations merged May |
| to greet and honor the returning spirits of spring, | | | | Day with a fertility day and/or a day to seek a life |
| gathering blossoms (also called going "a-Maying," or | | | | partner. And of course, any holiday, from ancient to |
| "bringing in the May,") and decorating a Maypole into | | | | modern, can be turned into an excuse to be get |
| a glorified tree similar to how some traditions | | | | maybe just a little - or just a lot - intoxicated and |
| decorate a Christmas tree today. | | | | wild beyond the tolerance of some in the community. |
| Every village in certain parts of Europe once had a | | | | May Day is no exception. Yet according to some |
| Maypole put up on the May Day holiday, and larger | | | | who study ritual dance, this day was not originally |
| cities had permanent posts for the occasion. Later in | | | | about the social and fertility pairing of men and |
| America, this spirit of celebrating spring and the | | | | women, but rather the dances were danced to mark |
| coming of warmer and more joyful days, regardless | | | | specific seasonal changes as they were done on the |
| of one's philosophical outlook, took hold in rural and | | | | solstices, First Night, and Twelfth Night. |
| small town America with the custom of children | | | | |