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reetings from Australia.
Welcome to
this Red-Letter Day. Below you will find today's global celebrations,
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Fair Flora! Now attend thy sportful feast,
Of which some days I with design have past;
A part in April and a part in May
Thou claim'st, and both command my tuneful lay;
And as the confines of two months are thine
To sing of both the double task be mine. Latin
poet Ovid,
Fasti,
v, 185,
for Flora (Floralia) Apr 28 - May 3Roman calendar
Oak before
ash, we're in for a splash, ash before oak we're in for a soak. Traditional British weather prognostication sayingfor May
Hoar-frost on May 1st indicates a good harvest. Traditional English proverb
The later the
blackthorn in bloom after May
1st, the better the rye and harvest. Traditional English proverb
Nut for the slut; plum for the glum
Bramble if she ramble; gorse for the whores. Traditional English saying; one should
preferably leavehawthorn at a
friend's door for their luck, but other plants are an insult. I
suggest you leave the gorse at home.
Mary we crown you with blossoms today,
Queen of the Angels
And Queen of the May. Contemporary folk song sung by Roman
Catholic schoolchildren in the UK. The month of May is dedicated to
Mary.
At Philip and James,
away with the lambs;
That thinkest to any milk of their dams;
At Lammas leave
milking, for fear of a thing,
Lest in winter they sing.
To milk and to fold them, is much to require,
Except ye have pasture to fill their desire;
Yet many by milking (such heed do they take)
Not hurting their bodies, much profit do make.
Five ewes allow to every cow, make a proof by a score,
Shall double thy dairy or trust me no more:
Yet may a good huswife that knoweth the skill,
Have mixt or unmixt, at her pleasure and will.
...
Be sure thy neat
have water and meat;
From bull, cow fast, till Crouchmas be past;
From heifer bull bid thee till Lammas bid thee,
Leave cropping from May
to Michaelmas-day.
Thy brake go and sow where barley did grow;
The next crop wheat is husbandry neat.
Fine basil sow in a pot to grow;
Watch bees in May for swarming away. Thomas Tusser (1524 - 1580), Five
hundreth pointes of good husbandrie: as well for the champion or open
countrie, as also for the woodland or severall ; mixed in everie month
with huswiferie, over and besides the booke of huswiferie, London:
'Printed in the now dwelling house of Henrie Denham in Aldersgate Street
at the signe of the starre', 1586
And forth goeth al the court, both moste and leste,
To feche the floures freshe. Chaucer,
referring to the practice of gathering flowers on May Day
[The hawthorn's] later
orgiastic use … corresponds with the cult of the Goddess Flora, and..
accounts for the English medieval habit of riding out on May Morning
to pluck flowering hawthorn boughs and dance around the maypole.
Hawthorn blossom has, for many men, a strong scent of female
sexuality; which is why the Turks use a flowering branch as an erotic
symbol. Robert Graves
(1895 -
1985), The
White Goddess, p. 176
Sin no more, as we have done, by staying
But, my Corinna, come, let's go a Maying. Robert Herrick
(1591 -
1674)
Hark! The sea-faring
wild-fowl loud proclaim
My coming, and the swarming of the bees.
These are my heralds, and behold! my name
Is written in blossoms on the hawthorn-trees.
I tell the mariner when to sail the seas;
I waft o'er all the land from far away
The breath and bloom of the Hesperides,
My birthplace. I am Maia. I am May. HW
Longfellow(1807
- '82); The Poet's Calendar for
May
I shall never forget the delight I felt on first
seeing a May-pole...My fancy adorned it with wreaths of flowers and
peopled the green bank with all the dancing revelry of May-day. Washington Irving(1783 -
1859), American author, after a visit to
England in the early C19; Sketch
Book
For the May Day is the great day,
Sung along the old straight track.
And those who ancient lines did ley
Will heed this song that calls them back. Ian Anderson of
Jethro Tull
When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, The post of honour is a private station. Joseph Addison, English
essayist, born on May 1, 1672; Cato, IV:1
Man is the merriest species of the creation; all
above or below him are serious. Joseph Addison
(Tea is) The infusion of a China plant sweetened
with the pith of an Indian cane. Joseph Addison; The Spectator, 69
Thus I live in the world rather as a spectator of
mankind than as one of the species. Joseph Addison; The Spectator, 1
I value my garden more for being full of
blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for
their songs. Joseph Addison; The Spectator, 477
Pray for the dead and fight like
hell for the living! Mother Jones,
Irish-American IWW
union organizer, born on May 1, 1830
I have seen
mothers take their babes and slap cold water in their face to wake the
poor little things. I have watched them all day long tending the
dangerous machinery. I have seen their helpless limbs torn off, and
then when they were disabled and of no more use to their master,
thrown out to die. I must give the company credit for having hired a
Sunday school teacher to tell the little things that "Jesus put
it into the heart of Mr. - to build that factory so they would have
work with which to earn a little money to enable them to put a nickel
in the box for the poor little heathen Chinese babies. Mother Jones
I live in the
United States, but I do not know exactly where. My address is wherever
there is a fight against oppression. My address is like my shoes; it
travels with me. I abide where there is a fight against wrong. Mother Jones;Autobiography
There are no limits to which powers of
privilege will not go to keep the workers in slavery. Mother Jones; ibid
I asked a man in prison once how he
happened to be there and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes. I told
him if he had stolen a railroad he would be a United States Senator Mother Jones; ibid
I have always advised men to read. All my
life I have told them to study the works of those great authors who
have been interested in making this world a happier place for those
who do its drudgery. Mother Jones; ibid
The future is in labor's strong, rough
hands. Mother Jones; ibid
From
out of the military prison wall of Pratt, West Virginia, where I have
walked over my eighty-fourth milestone in history, I send you the
groans and tears and heartaches of men, women, and children as I have
heard them in this state. From out these prison walls, I plead with you
for the honor of the nation, to push that investigation, and the
children yet unborn will rise and call you blessed. Mother
Jones
The past has revealed to me the structure of the
future. Pierre Teilhard de
Chardin, French Christian mystical writer, born on May 1,
1881
Pushed
one against the other by the growth of their number and by the
proliferation of their connections, approached one to the other by the
reawakening of a common force and by the feeling of a common anxiety,
the future human kind will form nothing but an unified consciousness. Pierre
Teilhard de Chardin
It's the
merrie, merrie month, as the English have long called the beautiful month
of May.
Their ancestors, the Anglo-Saxons, called it thrimilce, because at this time of
year cows can be milked three times a day. The modern name is thought by
some scholars to come from the Latin Maia
(consort of Jupiter, mother of
Hermes, or Mercury), the goddess of growth and
increase. It is also connected with major,
because in the Northern Hemisphere, May is a beautiful time of Spring
growth.
Despite the congeniality of the month, it was
also an old belief that May is an unlucky month in which to be married.
This superstition, current even today, is Roman in origin and was
mentioned by the Roman poet, Ovid. Lovers should wait until the propitious month
of June before tying the knot.
Those born in the first three weeks of May were
born under the sign of Taurus, and from May 21 to June 20, Gemini is the
ruling sun sign and represents the mythological twins Castor and
Pollux, the twins of Leda, who appeared to sailors in storms with fires on
their heads.
Many old sayings refer to May, but of course one
must remember that they generally refer to the month in the Northern
Hemisphere, where the climate differs completely from Australia. One old
proverb goes, "Cast not a clout till May is out", meaning do not shed
your winter clothing (clout) too early in the year, because cold weather
can still come. Another says "Wash a blanket in May/Wash a dear one
away", indicating that death will strike the family or friends of those
who do so.
Some other May proverbs are:
Be
it weal or be it woe,
Beans blow before May doth go.
Come
it early or come it late,
In May comes the cow-quake.
A swarm of bees in May
Is worth a load of hay.
A swarm of bees in June
Is worth a silver spoon.
A swarm of bees in July
Is not worth a fly.
The
haddocks are good,
When dipped in May flood.
Mist
in May, and heat in June,
Make the harvest right soon.
A hot May makes a
fat churchyard.
(Meaning that many people will die.)
Festivals in May
The Northern nations have many festivals in May
because the weather turns to a suitable temperature and Mother Nature
turns on her most beautiful colours and fragrances. For example, the
Macedonians, on the Orthodox Feast Day of St George (May 6), dance the hora and perform various ancient
rituals and games associated with eggs, as we do at Easter.
At Helston, Cornwall, on May 8, the
townsfolk have for centuries celebrated Furry Day, with dances, songs and
rites whose origins and purpose have long been lost in the mists of time.
The English for two hundred years or more
celebrated Shick-Shack Day (or, Oak Apple Day) on May 29, the
birthday of King Charles II who brought back monarchy to Britain after the
strict Puritan regime of Oliver
Cromwell.
May, however, is known especially for May Day,
the first day of the month, which in olden times was celebrated as the
great, colourful Spring festival, with May poles that were danced around,
and fairs at which dramas, often featuring Robin Hood and his "merrie
men", were performed. Morris dancers were and still are a delightful
part of the English May Day.
In the Celtic tradition, now popular with
neo-Pagans, the day is called Beltaine
(or Beltane). The Scots used to light bel-fires on the hilltops and drive
their cattle through the flames in a ritual which was either to destroy
vermin and protect the cattle from disease, or to prepare the beasts for
sacrifice.
May Day commenced in ancient Rome, with youths
going into the fields, dancing and singing in honour of Flora, goddess of
fruits and flowers. The goddess Bona Dea, too, was
celebrated at around this time, in women-only rites.
In recent years, May Day became an annual
celebration not so much of the glories of Spring but of the traditions of
the labour movement. This is because on May 1, 1886 in America, workers
held the first nationwide strike, struggling to win an eight-hour working
day. Three years later, in 1889, the anniversary was held as the first
International Labor Day. On May Day, still, in towns and cities all over
the world, workers' organizations stage rallies and marches ...
... Much more May and May Day folklore and
customs
at the big Merrie Month
of May page at the Scriptorium
Every May Day since time immemorial the
people of Padstow, Cornwall have enjoyed their Hobby Horse (Obby Oss;
Obby 'Oss) parade. The
first written reference to this ancient procession was
written in 1502. The Hobby Horse might come from ancient fertility rites
(horses are a potent symbol) or from the legend of the Cornish saint,
Petroc
(feast day,
June 4), who led a
monster into the ocean as banishment.
Obby Oss at YouTube
Preceded by white-clad
men (teazers) is the horse,
forty kilos of stick, cloth and a stylized horse's head with big red eyes and snapping teeth.
The men prepare for their singing procession for days before and sing an
ancient song with
special words that change for each householder they are serenading.
The world-famous custom has roots at least as far
back as the 14th Century, but is probably derived from a more ancient
summer fertility rite, and annually welcomes people who travel hundreds
of miles, even further, to attend. There are some similarities between
this festival and the
Lajkonik
hobby horse festival in
Kraków, Poland. In
particular the idea that young women my be captured or struck with a
stick in order to bring them luck or fertility suggests a pagan, or at
least medieval origin.
May Day in Padstow officially begins at midnight,
when a groups of 'mayers' meet outside the Golden Lion Inn and
serenade the owner and family with their 'Night Song':
Arise up Mr ---- and joy you betide
For summer is acome unto day,
And bright is your bride that lies by your side,
In the merry morning of May.
Arise up Mrs ---- and gold be your ring,
For summer is acome unto day,
And give to us a cup of ale the merrier we shall sing,
In the merry morning of May.
Arise up Miss ---- all in your gown of green
For summer is acome unto day,
You are as fine a lady as wait upon the Queen,
In the merry morning of May.
The 'oss' itself
looks as little like a horse as can be imagined. One might say 'osses',
for more than one of these creatures parades around the town of Padstow
– there is even a children's oss.
The nursery rhyme, 'Ride a cock horse to Banbury
Cross' hints at ancient memories of this custom, while its second line,
'To see a fine lady upon a white horse' might be a reference to the
annual ride of Lady
Godiva though the streets of Coventry.
Traditionally, after the hobby horse had been
taken round the town, it was submerged in the sea, recalling St Petroc and
the monster, or phantom, whose name was Tregeagle (pronounced 'Dree-gaygle'). The ancient lore is
inconsistent on this, and the monster or serpent seems to have become
confused or conflated with an actual wicked person of the name Jan
Tregeagle, although in a Latin tale, the serpent was one originally
inflicted on the locals by a savage man named Teudur (Tendur; Teudur;
Tendurus). Petroc made a chain, forged with his own hands, every link of
which he welded with a prayer, and bound the monster, banishing it (either
into the sea or to Berepper beach).
(More)
In olden times, people believed
that the obby oss ritualpreserved
the cattle of the inhabitants of Padstow from disease and death, and the
ritual has strong elements of the banishment of Satan. The water-horse is
a common Celtic tradition, and we also find it in the Arabian Nights,
and in the stories of southern European countries.
"Formerly in this county it was the custom in most farm-houses for any
servant who could bring in a branch of hawthorn in full blossom to receive a
dish of cream for breakfast. To this practice the following rhyme apparently
alludes:—
From Wikipedia:
Maid Marian is the female companion to the legendary figure Robin
Hood.
The earliest Medieval
Robin Hood stories gave him no female companion. The Robin Hood character
at this time was rather brutish woodsman and a female companion would have
been out of place.
Maid Marian was originally a character in May
Games festivities (held during May and early June, most commonly around Whitsun)
and is sometimes associated with the Queen or Lady of May and/or May
Day. It has been suggested that she became associated with Robin Hood
in this context, as Robin Hood became a central figure in May Day,
associated as it was with the forest and archery.
Marian is likely derived from the French
tradition of a shepherdess named Marion and her shepherd lover Robin (not
Robin Hood). The best known example of this tradition is Adam
de la Halle's Le
Jeu de Robin et Marion, circa 1283.
In narrative terms, Maid Marian was first
attached to Robin Hood in the late sixteenth century as Robin was
gentrified and given a virginal maid to pine after. Her biography and
character have been highly variable over the centuries, being sometimes
portrayed as a pagan or Saxon
and other times as a high born Norman.
(Marian's role was not entirely virginal in the early days. In 1592,
Thomas Nashe described the Marian of the later May Games as being played
by a male actor named Martin, and there are hints in the play of Robin
Hood and the Friar that the female character in these plays had become a
lewd parody.)
Maid Marian's character evolved, becoming
conflated with the Goddess Diana
as she became portrayed as a skilled huntress that fought alongside Robin.
In the Victorian
Era she reverted to her previous role as the dainty maid. With the
rise of modern feminism
in the 20th
Century, the character has often been depicted as an adventurer again,
sometimes as a crack archer
herself. In modern times, a common ending for Robin Hood stories became
that he married Maid Marian and left the woods for a civilized
aristocratic life. See also Maid
Marian and her Merry Men for a modern role reversal.
Find an error or dead link?
Like to make a suggestion, or just say "G'day"?
Meet me at Corrigenda
Chimney sweeps' festival May Day was in
olden times the first day of the Londonchimney-sweeps'
festival, a three day revel in which chimney sweeps wore gold paper
and flowers on their clothes and hats. They also had their shovels
and faces lined with pink paint and white chalk. They chose a
grandly-dressed lord and lady from some other profession, the lady
often being a boy in extravagant female attire.
As part of chimney-sweeps' revels it was
customary for a boy to move about in a framework of branches covered
in leaves. He was called Jack-in-the-green.
Jack, a Green
Man sometimes also showed up in London suburbs, hailing from the
country, amusing the public with rustic dancing. He carried a
flower-decked walking stick.
Bonfires From time immemorial, bonfires have been
associated with
May Eve and
May Day in Britain. Originally dedicated to the pagan solar god Bel, or
Balder, in Ireland these fires were once called Balder's balefires. Until
the nineteenth century, May Day bonfires were still lit in the
Scottish highlands, Ireland and the Isle of Man, among the
peasantry.
A-Maying In Britain it used to be
customary today to go a-Maying,
or gathering flowers and branches, particularly of the May bush.
May Queen In old Britain on May Day,
folk elected the Queen of the
May, a pretty girl to preside over the day's events, which
usually meant sitting in a garlanded bower all day and being admired
by the whole village.
The
old British (and French) custom the Queen of the May today came from
the ancient Roman veneration of Flora, goddess of flowers and
youthful pleasures, for whom a sexually licentious festival was held
at this time of year. In some villages, children carried around a
finely-dressed doll called the Lady of the May. With little copies
of maypoles, they went about the village asking for a halfpenny.
May cows Up until the early
nineteenth century in Britain, on May Day milkmaids would dress up a
cow in garlands. They, too, dressed in flowers and danced around the
cow. In earlier times they were accompanied by a man wearing a bulky
frame on which were hung flowers, silver flagons and dishes. The
silverware was rented out at an hourly rate by pawnbrokers.
May cosmetics On the morning of May Day,
Scottish lasses used to go out early and wash their faces in dew, a
sure potion for preserving beauty. In Edinburgh the favourite place
to do this was Arthur's Seat. Similarly, at Anhalth, Germany,
girls did the same to get rid of freckles.
Royal May Day In medieval England, even
the king and queen joined in with the May Day festivities. Chaucer
wrote that early on May Day Forth
goeth all the court, both most and least, to fetch the flowers fresh.
May scapegoat In old Scotland and
Ireland, May Day rituals were, among other things, an attempt to
stop the spread of witchcraft. Whoever received a piece of cake
marked with charcoal served as scapegoat for witches, becoming a
figure of terror and being pelted with eggshells. (By way of
comparison, in Germany it was customary to throw eggshells at a
disagreeable stranger.)
Bannock rolling Up till about a hundred
years ago, Beltane (the old pagan name for May Day) was celebrated
in Scotland with bonfires to which eggs and dairy products were
brought as sacrifices. Beltane was also celebrated with bannocks (cakes) which were
marked with a cross and rolled downhill. It might be that the custom
of Easter egg rolling came from this practice, as Easter is about
this time of year.
Garland
Dressing, Charlton-on-Oxmoor, Oxfordshire, UK A wooden cross is bedecked with Yew and Box tree
leaves.
Callander custom At Callander, a town in
Perthshire, Scotland, on Beltane
(May Day) boys used to meet on the moors, where they lit a fire and
cooked a custard and bannock
cake. After eating the custard they divided the bannock, one piece
of which was marked with charcoal. Whoever drew this slice had to
jump through the fire three times, a relic of ancient bonfire (bone-fire) sacrifices to Bel
the god of Beltane.
Unlucky weddings
From as early as Roman times comes the tradition
mentioned by Ovid, and still prevalent in Europe, that May is an
unlucky month in which to be married. This is probably because in
Rome this was the month for the festival of Bona
Dea (the goddess of chastity), and the feasts of the dead called
Lemuralia.
Samhain, Southern Hemisphere
"The festival in honor of the departed
spirits and the New Year is celebrated through the previous night
and today. Also known as Halloween, Hallowmas, All Hallow's Eve, All
Saint's Eve, Festival of the Dead, and the Third Festival of
Harvest. Often celebrated with traditional Pagan feasts, bonfires,
and rituals honoring the spirits of deceased loved ones. Divinitory
arts such as scrying, rune casting, and Tarot are practiced on this
magical night." Source:
Earth, Moon and Sky
Rodonitsa, Traven, Slavic Pagan
"This is the third great day of worship of our ancestors, a day of remembrance. Today we bring beer, vodka, and food to our dead. During the feast, celebrants call their guests to stir from their sepulchres and eat and drink in remembrance of Trisna. This day is named
'Rodnitsa' to honor the God Rod, the God of Family and of the
Cosmos." Source
Rowan Witch Day, Finland
On or around this day in old Finland, today was a festival in honour of Rauni, the goddess of earth, Nature, weather and ceremony. To gain her blessings on the weather and to ensure a bountiful harvest, reindeer were sacrificed to this goddess.
May crowning is a traditional Roman Catholic
ritual that occurs in the month of
May of every
year. In some countries, it takes place on or about May 1, however,
in many United States Catholic parishes, it takes place on
Mothers' Day.
La baillée aux roses, France Long ago, in France, the
Count de la Marche fell in love with the beautiful Marie Dubuisson.
Rejected by Marie, he serenaded beneath her window, but she
reproached him, saying he should have been at his desk doing his
parliamentary homework. So the ardent count went home and studied
his case, which he won the next day in the House. Queen Blanche
asked "Who inspired you to do so well?"to which the young nobleman
replied, "The voice of an angel descended from Heaven to recall me
to my duty". In 1227, Queen Blanche instituted a charming tribute
that young parliamentarians had to pay to parliament every May 1,
consisting of a gift of roses, to remind them that they ought "like the Count de la Marche, turn their most tender feelings to
the advantage of justice". The custom lasted till 1589.
"In
art, Saint Aldebrandus is portrayed as an old, ill bishop in bed
raising to life the cooked partridge which has been brought to him
on a fast day. (This tale is also told of Saint
Benedict, while Saint Hugh
of Grenoble is said to have turned the roast partridges at the
Grande Chartreuse into tortoises.)"Source
Feast day of St Asaph,
abbot and bishop at Llanelwy, in North Wales In a Welsh monastery that
was established, according to legend, by St
Kentigern (Mungo) of
Glasgow, and St
David, lived Asaph, a young monk who became a
favourite of Mungo, who placed the monastery in his hands. Later
Mungo resigned his bishopric of Llanelwy, to return to Scotland, and
Asaph took it over. He wrote a biography of Kentigern/Mungo, but it
has never been found.
Feast day of St Evermarus of Tongres,
martyr Murdered by robbers at Rousson, near Tongres,
Belgium. Each year the villagers of Rousson hold a procession in his
honour.
Feast day of St Joseph
the Workman Joseph
(main feast day March 19), carpenter and father of Jesus. May 1 was established as the Feast of St Joseph the Workman by Pope
Pius XII in 1955, chosen to coincide with Labor days in many
nations and to counterbalance the May Day celebrations of the Communists.
Feast day of St Marculf
(Marcon; Marcou; Marcoul),
Abbot of Nanten (Nanteuil), in Normandy
Marculf, a 6th-Century
French saint,baptized St
Helier and
sent him to an island in the English Channel called Gersut, or Agna (Jersey),
which was all but depopulated due to repeated attacks by Vikings. (One of the invaders found St
Helier and cut off his head [cf Saint Denis,
or Denys], which the saint picked up and walked towards the shore,
causing the Vikings to flee in great terror at the sight of the
cephalophore, and the island was
saved.)
The
Marcou
The French epithet Marcou would seem
to be derived from the abbot of Nanten. In old France it was
believed that if a seventh son was born into a family, and he had no
sisters, he was called a Marcou,
and a fleur-de-lis
was branded on him. If anyone with the King's Evil
(scrofula) touched the tattoo, it was supposed that they would be
healed. One particular Marcou,
a cooper (barrel-maker) named Foulon, set up a business in Orleans,
and on Good Fridays the cure was supposed to be most efficacious.
Hundreds of gullible people would gather, but eventually the police
stopped the practice.
"In
art, Saint Marculf is portrayed as an abbot touching the chin or
elbow of a suppliant (curing the king's evil). At times he may be
depicted (1) confirming the king with power to touch for scrofula;
(2) holding a plantain (herbe Saint Marcoul); (3) as a woman
with devil's foot stands before him or is put to flight as he
blesses bread; or (4) with
Saint Cloud
(Clodoaldus) (Roeder). His relics lie at Corbigny. Marculf is
invoked against scrofula and all skin diseases (Roeder)."Source
Feast Day of Ss Philip and
James the Less, Apostles, Anglican(May 3
in Roman Catholic Church)
(Tulip, Tulipa gesneri, and
Red campion,
Silene dioica or
Lycnis dioica
rubra, are
today's plants, dedicated to St Philip and James the Less, respectively, who
share this feast day.)
More
at the Book of Days, May 3, which
is the Roman Catholic feast of these saints
Tour
of the Trasona Dam Held each year is this modern
celebration at
Corvera de Asturias, in the province of
Oviedo,
northern Spain. It was established by workers and includes Asturian folk
celebrations, a contest between wooden shoe makers and artisans, and
sports events.
Festival of Sant'Efisio
Festival of
Sant'Efisio,
Cagliari, Sardinia
In 1652 when half the population of Sardinia was killed by a plague,
the people sought the intercession of St Efisio di Elia, who had
been beheaded in the year 303. A colourful procession is held today.
May Day is designated International Workers
Day. It is indeed a thoroughly international
holiday; and the United
States is one of the few countries in the world where pressure
from local working classes
has not led to an official holiday. In the 20th Century, the holiday
received the official endorsement of the Soviet Union;
celebrations in communist
countries during the Cold War era often
consisted of large military parades and shows of common people in
support of the government.
"History has almost forgotten Peter McGuire, an Irish-American cabinet maker and pioneer unionist who proposed a day dedicated to all who labor. Old records describe him as a red-headed, fiery, eloquent leader of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners.
"McGuire introduced his idea formally at a meeting of the Central Labor Union on May 18,1882.
'Let us have, a festive day during which a parade through the streets of the city would permit public tribute to American
Industry,' he said.
"The following September New York workers staged a parade up Broadway to Union Square. Few, if any, workers got the day off. Most were warned against marching in the parade with the threat of getting fired. Despite the warning, more than 10,000 workers showed up for the march. Led by mounted police, bricklayers in white aprons paraded with a band playing
'Killarney.' The marchers passed a reviewing stand crowded with Knights of Labor: a holiday was born. McGuire's holiday moved across the country as slowly as did recognition of the rights of the working man.
"Twelve years later, on June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland, long a foe of organized labor, but under voter pressure, signed a Labor Day holiday bill." Source:
How labor won its day
Dewey Day
, USA This day honours Admiral George
Dewey and is observed mainly by American veterans' organisations.
LawDay,
USA To promote understanding of the law, Law Day in the USA
is sponsored by the American Bar Association. Recognised by
presidential proclamation, the day is observed by legal societies,
schools and the media.
Lei Day, Hawaii Lei Day is an Hawaiian flower
festival, congruent with European and ancient Roman May Day (Floralia)
traditions.
Loyalty Day, USA Observed by presidential proclamation, Loyalty Day
features ceremonies by veterans at Cooch's Bridge, Delaware, where
the American flag (Old Glory)
was first displayed in battle.
May Day, Turkey The Turkish people, like the people of Europe, enjoy
today as a Spring festival.
Tammany's Day, or St Tamenend's Day During the American Revolution, native soldiers wanted a patron
saint to compete with St
George, patron of England and thus of their
enemy soldiers. They chose for this purpose the 17th-Century
Delaware Indian wise man, Chief Tamenend, or Tammany, as their
saint, and made this his feast day. Tammany, the patriotic
organisation behind the Democrat Party, was founded in New York City
in 1789 by William Mooney, a former soldier.
Punch and Judy
service, St Paul's Church, Covent Garden Every May Day, a thanksgiving service at St Paul's
Church, Covent Garden, London is held for practitioners of an
unusual and ancient craft-
the Punch and Judy operators.
Rowan Day Practising pagans know today, May
Day, as Rowan Day, a worldwide (or, Northern Hemisphere at least)
celebration of Spring and fertility.
May and the Roman Senate Several theories exist as to the
derivation of this month's name. One says that the month in
ancient Rome was assigned in honour of the Majores, or Maiores, the
senate in the original constitution of Rome, and June to honour the Juniores, or inferior branch
of the Roman legislature.
Revolutionary May In the French Revolutionary
calendar, May was called Floréal because in the Northern Hemisphere it is a time of flowers.
L-Ewwel ta'
Mejju (May Day), or Jum il-Ħaddiem (Worker's Day), public holiday,
Malta
First
weekend in May: Old Dover Days Observed in
Dover, capital of
Delaware, USA, a festival
to recreate the history and customs of Old Dover, a town formed by
William Penn in 1683.
Bangtail Muster,
Alice Springs, Australia
On May 1 each year at Alice Springs in Australia's
Northern
Territory, they hold the Bangtail Muster festival. The name comes
from the outback and refers to the annual round up of cattle, at
which each animal when counted has its tail docked and becomes a bangtail.
Takaoka Yama
Matsuri, Takaoka, Sekino Shrine, Toyama
Prefecture, Japan This annual festival features
the procession of seven traditionally-designed yama floats. Each of seven
surrounding towns enters a yama,
and each town presents its own traditional music at the festival.
UesugiMatsuri, Yonezawa,
Uesugi Shrine,
Yamagata
Prefecture, Japan An annual shrine event held
today features a costume parade from the feudal days, and a mikoshi drawn by an ox.
Takoage
(Big Kite-Flying), at
the Suwa shrine,
Hamamatsu,
Shizoka
Prefecture, Japan (May 1 -
5) In about 1550, the feudal
lord of Hamamatsu Castle had a baby son and flew the baby's name on a kite for
all to see. Thus began the Hamamatsu Odakoage kite-flying at
Hamamatsu part of the annual Suwa Shrine
Festival.
In the
Meiji period
(October 23,
1868 to July
30, 1912), the celebration of the birth of a first son by flying
Hatsu Dako, or the first kite, became popular, and this tradition
has survived in the form of Hamamatsu Festival.
For the five days, young men compete in a magnificent kite
battle, cutting the strings of other kites. On
May 5, the competitors battle with blades attached to the
kites.
More than 160 large kites are flown to the sound of trumpets.
During the nights of Hamamatsu Festival, people parade downtown
carrying more than 70 yatai, or palace-lake floats, that are
beautifully decorated. Many of the mhe marchers play Japanese
traditional festival music. The festival reaches its peak when
groups of people compete by violently marching across town.
Dainembutsu Kyogen, Shinsen-en Shrine Kyoto,
Japan (May 1 - 5) Today is the first of five days
of a festival of masked pantomimes called Dainembutsu Kyogen.
Taue Matsuri
(Rice-planting festival), Fushimi-inari Taisha Shrine, Fukakusa,
Fushimi-ku, Japan
"This eighth century shrine is dedicated to the rice goddess and has
'thousands' of red gates. Women dressed in ancient court costumes
perform a Shinto dance; young women plant rice seedlings in a sacred
field; rituals petition the goddess for a good harvest."
Source
"This Festival is celebrated by the
people of Simpa or Winneba in the Central Region of Ghana.
"The festival is a celebration to mark
the migration of these people from the ancient Western Sudan Empire
where they were led by 2 brothers and a god called Otu. Upon
consulting their god, they were instructed by their traditional
priest or mediator between the people and the god to sacrifice a
young member of the Royal family every year to their god.
"This was not good news so they made an
appeal to their god who asked for an animal from the wild cat family
to be caught alive and beheaded before the god.
"Before the festival began they settled
the god at a place called Penkye hence the god became Penkyi Otu.
When the people went out to hunt down the wild cat they lost so many
men before capturing it alive. This caused the second appeal. Penkyi
Otu decided to accept a mature bush buck this looks like a deer.
"The people of Simpa sang this story in
their war chants and told it during moonlit nights. It was kept and
protected till it could be written in English for all to read.
"Today, the Aboakyir festival is
celebrated in May each year and is a major event in Ghana."Source
First
Saturday in May: Kentucky Derby Day, Louisville, Kentucky, USA Held at Churchill Downs. The first derby was May 17,
1875.
From Wikipedia:
In 1712, Addison wrote his most famous work of fiction, a play
entitled Cato, a Tragedy. Based on the last days of Marcus
Porcius Cato Uticensis, it deals with, inter alia, such themes
as individual liberty vs. government tyranny, Republicanism
vs. Monarchism,
logic vs. emotion and Cato's personal struggle to cleave to his
beliefs in the face of death.
The play was a success throughout England
and her possessions in the New
World, as well as Ireland.
It continued to grow in popularity, especially in the American
colonies, for several generations. Indeed, it was almost certainly
a literary inspiration for the American
Revolution, being well known to many of the Founding
Fathers. In fact, George
Washington, had it performed for the Continental
Army while they were encamped at Valley
Forge.
Some scholars believe that the source of
several famous quotations from the American Revolution came from,
or were inspired by, Cato. These include:
Patrick
Henry's famous ultimatum: "Give me Liberty or give me
death!"
(Supposed reference to Act II, Scene
4: "It is not now time to talk of aught/But chains or
conquest, liberty or death.").
Nathan
Hale's valediction: "I regret that I have but one
life to give for my country."
(Supposed reference to Act IV, Scene
4: "What a pity it is/That we can die but once to
serve our country.").
Washington's praise for Benedict
Arnold in a letter to him: "It is not in the power of
any man to command success; but you have done more — you
have deserved it."
(Clear reference to Act I, Scene 2: "'Tis
not in mortals to command success; but we'll do more,
Sempronius, we'll deserve it.").
Though the play has fallen considerably
from popularity and is now rarely performed, it remains a
favourite source of inspiration (and quotations) for proponents of
individual rights, free markets, and libertarian
values generally.
1830Mother Jones
(Mary Harris Jones; 'the Miners' Angel'; 'the greatest woman agitator of our times';
'the most dangerous woman in the country';
d.
November 30,
1930), born
Cork, Ireland, Irish-American anti-war activist and
labor
organizer. She was one of the early leaders of the anarcho-syndicalist (kinda sorta)
International Workers of the
World, or Wobblies. Another
late starter
and late achiever, at 37 years of age she became active in the union movement following the death of her husband.
Mary Harris
'Mother' Jones was born in the year 1830. The renowned labor
organizer, who it is believed lived to be 100 years old, said: "I live in
the United States, but I do not know exactly where. My address is
wherever there is a fight against oppression. My address is like my
shoes; it travels with me. I abide where there is a fight against
wrong."
Some sources give Mary Harris Jones's date of birth as
August 1,
1837. The assumed
birth date of May 1 was possibly chosen symbolically, representing
the national labor holiday. Mary Harris 'Mother' Jones Elementary
School in Adelphi, Maryland is named for her.
"Veteran Australian character actor
John Meillon is best remembered for playing Paul Hogan's partner
in Crocodile Dundee
(1988) and its sequel, but his film career began in 1959 when he
played a sailor in Stanley Kubrick's On the Beach.
Meillon made his acting debut at age 11 on the radio and the year
after first performed on-stage. He spent the early '60s in Britain
where he appeared in such films as The Longest Day
(1962), but returned to Australia mid-decade. He gained national
fame when he starred in the popular television series My Name's
McGooley, What's Yours? Meillon spent the rest of his career
working in television and feature films. ~ Sandra Brennan, All
Movie Guide"Source
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1324The troubadours of Provençe, France, gathered for a
verse-reciting competition called Jeux
Floreaux (Floral Games), which had grand prizes and was commemorated every
May 1 for centuries. (See 1540 below.)
1517Known as
'Evil May Day', when London apprentices attacked the foreign merchants and
artisans.
About 900 apprentices,
bearing clubs, forced the release from Newgate Prison of some apprentices who
had earlier been arrested to forestall a plot to beat up foreign workers. The
rioters ran through many parts of London, and many were arrested. King Henry
VIII later pardoned about 400 of them, though some were hanged for the Evil May
Day riot.
1540 Clémence Isaure, a lady of rank, bequeathed a fortune for the
provision of gold and silver flowers as prizes in the verse-reciting competition
of Provençe, France known as the Jeux
Floreaux (Floral Games).
1626
New World: 'Pagan Pilgrim'
Thomas
Morton (1590? -
1647), royalist
rake, a
trader and lawyer, raised the Maypole with Native American allies.
Fed up with Puritan restrictions
on life and liberty, Morton (calling himself "mine
Hoste of Mare Mount") and a Captain Wollaston had set up near the Plymouth Colony a
fur-trading post in 1624 which they named "Mare Mount" – Mount by the Sea. Their
Puritan neighbours saw through his
rude pun and its suggestion of a rejection of
Puritan values (for it was a place of revelry), and sneeringly called it "Merrymount".
When Morton set up a Maypole, with a poem
attached and the whole shaft topped with antlers, all hell broke loose at the
Plymouth colony nearby. Miles Standish's
Pilgrim stormtroopers invaded the free settlement,
John Endecott chopped down
the proud Maypole, scattered Merrymount's inhabitants, destroyed its houses and
renamed the place Mount Dagon.
Governor Bradford dared not execute the well-connected Morton so he marooned
him on a desert island till 1628 when an English ship transported him back to
London where he stood trial and was acquitted. There he spent the next decade in
using his talents and resources to oppose the Puritans with wit and humour,
particularly in the satirical tract New
English Canaan (1637). He pointedly contrasted the lives of the uptight
Pilgrims with those of the good-natured and hospitable Native Americans. He was employed by Sir Ferdinando
Gorges as legal counsel in an attempt to void the charter of the
Massachusetts Bay Company.
In 1643 Morton returned to New
England, where he spent the next two years in prison for slander and in 1646 the
brave eccentric died at Agamenticus (now York), in the northern part of the
Massachusetts colony (present-day Maine), poverty stricken after years of
persecution for his free thought.
In retrospect, Morton's decision
to trade rum and firearms with the local Native Americans might not been one of
his wisest, and it certainly was resented by the Pilgrims. It has been suggested
that Pilgrim jealousy of Morton's trading successes might have been at the
heart of their campaign against him.
The Maypole event is told in
Nathaniel Hawthorne's
The Maypole of Merrymount.
The Inhabitants of … Mare Mount …did devise amongst themselves …
Revels and merriment after the old English custome; (they) prepared to sett up a
Maypole upon the festivall day …and therefore brewed a barrell of excellent
beare … to be spent, with other good cheare, for all commers of that day. And
… they had prepared a song fitting to the time and present occasion. And upon
May day they brought the Maypole to the place appointed, with drumes, gunnes,
pistols and other fitting instruments, for the purpose; and there erected it
with the help of Salvages, that came thether to see the manner of our Revels. A
goodly pine tree of 80 foot longe was reared up, with a peare of buckshorns
nayled one somewhat neare unto the top of it: where it stood, as a faire sea
mark for directions how to finde out the way to mine Hoste of Mare Mount.
And
because it should more fully appeare to what end it was placed there, they had a
poem in readiness made, which was fixed to the Maypole, to shew the new name
confirmed upon that plantation; which although it were made according to the
occurrents of the time, (it being Enigmatically composed) puzzled the Seperatists
most pitifully to expound it … The
setting up of this Maypole was a lamentable spectacle to the precise seperatists:
that lived at new Plymouth. They termed it an Idoll; yea they called it the Calf
of Horeb: and stood at defiance with the place, naming it Mount Dagon;
threatening to make it a woefull mount and not a merry mount … Morton, The
New English Caanan, Book III, Chapter 14
They also set up a Maypole, drinking and dancing about it many days
t.gether, inviting the Indian women, for their consorts, dancing and frisking
together, (like so many fairies, or furies rather) and worse practices. As if
they had anew revived and cele.brated the feasts of the Roman Goddes Flora, or
the beastly practieses of the madd Bacchinalians. Morton likewise (to shew his
poetrie) composed sundry rimes and verses, some tending to lasciviousnes, and
others to the detraction and scandall of some persons, which he affixed to this
idle or idoll Maypolle. William
Bradford (1588 - 1657), governor of Plymouth colony, History of Plimoth
Plantation, 1620 - '47
1661 The tallest (130 feet) and longest-standing of old maypoles was
placed in the Strand, London. In 1717, Sir
Isaac Newton bought it to support a
telescope.
1704 The first ad in an American newspaper appeared.
1770 Seaman Forby Sutherland became the first European to be buried
in Australia. The area that is now the Sydney suburb of Sutherland was named by
his commander, Captain James
Cook, in his honour.
Its actual name was the Order of Perfectibilists, and it
was a secret society of radical secular humanists formed in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany,
for the "express purpose of rooting out all religious establishments, and
overturning all the existing governments of Europe".
1821TheTimes of London
reported that showers of stones had been falling on a house in Truro, Cornwall,
despite the house's being guarded for days by the mayor, soldiers and others.
1875 Australia: The Fairfax publishing organization inaugurated the Echo newspaper, which lasted till
1893.
1884Proclamation
of the demand for the eight-hour workday in the United
States.
1886The
start of the general strike that eventually won the eight-hour
workday in the United States. These events are today commemorated as May Day or Labour Day
in most industrialized countries.
1891 "The first May Day processions and demonstrations were held in Australia during the 1891 Shearers strike in
Barcoldine [sic: Barcaldine – PW] and Ipswich in Queensland. Over 1,000 people took part in Barcoldine
demonstrations, over 600 were mounted on horseback. The May Day procession was led by four of the leaders of the Shearers strike, they were followed by the Odd Fellows Band. Behind the band, the shearers and their supporters marched behind the Australian Labor Federation banner. Eureka flags were flown, possibly the first time since 1856, by participants in the first May Day march. The end of the demonstration was brought up by a wagon driven by a shearer, in which
a young woman vigorously waved a Young Australia flag." Source
Wikipedia
says: One of the first Mayday marches in the world took place during the
strike on May 1, 1891 in Barcaldine.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that 1340 men took part of whom 618
were mounted on horse. Banners carried included those of the Australian Labor
Federation, the Shearers' and Carriers' Unions, and one inscribed 'Young
Australia'. The leaders wore blue sashes and the Eureka
Flag was carried. The "Labor Bulletin" reported that cheers were
given for "the Union", "the Eight-hour
day", "the Strike Committee" and "the boys in
gaol". It reported the march:
"In the procession every civilised country
was represented doing duty for the Russian, Swede, French, Dane etc, who
are germane to him in other climes, showing that Labor's cause is one the
world over, foreshadowing the time when the swords shall be turned into
ploughshares and Liberty, Peace and Friendship will knit together the
nations of the earth."
This is Eight-hours day in Queensland, and the
unionists in the district took advantage of the occasion to make a
demonstration ...
The feature of to-day has been the great demonstration by the
unionists, in which 1340 took part. Of this number 618 were mounted. Not
included in the count was the Oddfellows' band, which headed the procession.
Then came the banner of the Australian Labour Federation and the men carrying
samples of the trades in which they were employed ... Sydney Morning Herald, May 2, 1891
An open air meeting was held yesterday on the south bank of the Yarra to
formally celebrate for the first time in this colony what is known in European
countries as "Labor Day". It has been arranged that sympathisers
with the movement should meet at the Burke and Wills statue at two o'clock.
About half an hour after that time there were some 250 men at the rendezvous,
and about twice as many apparently careless onlookers. A little later a move
was made to the Yarra bank. The Knights of Labor, members of the Single Tax
League, Melbourne Democratic Club and the unemployed fell into a straggling
procession, which wended its way down Burke Street and over Princes Bridge.
The behaviour of those forming the procession was quite orderly. When the men
defiled on to the river tow path two red flags were unfurled to the
accompaniment of a feeble cheer ... The Age, May 1, 1893Source
"Whilst organised slaughter called war is devastating the world; whilst nationalistic lunatics and militaristic maniacs are murdering each other; whilst degenerate abrutis of all sorts are suffering horribly & dying miserably, consequent upon the worlds ignorance and prejudice; our GES is pursuing slowly, but with certainty its logical rational work of the vulgarisation of scientific knowledge and determinedly spreads the contagion of reason more than ever we are able to repeat, in all serenity, and in face of the present events that the present is to us, the future is but to our anarchism our work will stand, the rest will fall and be forgotten.
"— fraternally to our friends the world over, the GES of Australia, the 1st of
May.
"They were the antipodean offshoot of the Groupe d'Etudes Scientifiques (GES for short) of Paris, run by the prodigious author Paraf-Javal. The Sydney group, around from at least 1912, had its own printing facilities, the communist-anarchist press, run by Ralph Carterer, & various addresses in Sydney.
Source
"In October 1916, detective Moore, the Sydney police subversion expert had tracked down the mysterious Mr Sphynx, who turned out to identical with one Bjelke Boekgen, This man styles himself a professor of physical culture and a journalist, and the name Xarus Sphynx, he states is a nom-de-plume. The detective continues: "Boekgen is an old Domain orator, and belongs to a small sect of cranks, who are said to be anarchists. He disclaims being such, and so far as I know of him, he appears to propound some wild theories, among which is that there should be no monetary currency, and that property should belong to all. I never knew of him being associated with or preaching violence. He does not appear to belong to the I.W.W., and has always held his public meetings in the Domain quite independently of them."* (the IWW were the bogey of the moment to the police, actively opposed to the war and accused of arson, among other things. The idea of them, militant industrial unionists, associating with the GES is highly
unlikely) Exactly why Boekgen was deported is hard to say, its possible he was caught in the anti-radical housecleaning that both Australian and American governments carried out at the time. Its doubtful the GES had enough impact to justify it. Their individualist attitudes make it unlikely they were up to much political engagement beyond criticism. *NSW Police files concerning the IWW, box 7/5596"
Source
1931The Empire State Building, at the time the
world's tallest building at 102 storeys, was opened in New York
Cityby US President Herbert
Hoover. The building's construction,
considering it had occurred in the traffic centre of one of the world's
busiest cities, was remarkably rapid. In October 1929 the site had been occupied
by the Astoria Hotel.
1942 The American War Production Board commandeered all juke box
manufacturing facilities for the making of war materials.
1945 Russian forces occupied Berlin and Nazi propaganda minister
Joseph Goebbels killed his wife, his six children and then himself to avoid
capture by invading Russian forces.
1945 The 9th Division of the Australian Infantry Force landed at
Tarakan in North Borneo. In the ensuing battle against the Japanese, 225 men
were killed and 669 wounded.
1948The
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)
was established, with Kim Il Sung as president.
1965 In New South Wales, Australia, Robert Askin's Liberals gained
power after 24 years of Labor rule. After his death, Askin was shown to have
become wealthy through corruption.
1985 HMAS Wollongong ran
aground off Gabo Island near the NSW/Victoria border. Later the commander,
Captain Gulliver, was suspended for negligence.
1986 Millions of South African workers and students went on strike
in South Africa's largest anti-apartheid protest.
1989 In Prague,
anti-Communist-government protesters demanded the release from
jail of playwright Václav
Havel (Vaclav
Havel; b. 1936), who later became President of the Czech Republic.
Ironically, these demonstrations occurred on May Day, a day traditionally
co-opted by the Communists themselves.
In November 1989,
Havel was one of the leading initiators of the founding of the
Civic
Forum, an association uniting opposition civic movements and democratic
initiatives. From the very first days of its existence he was the head of the
Civic Forum, becoming a key figure of the 'Velvet
Revolution' (named after Lou
Reed and the Velvet Underground rock band), when, beginning on November
17, 1989, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators for freedom took to the
streets of Prague. This became a popular
uprising that seized the reins of power
from the incumbent Communist
Party.
Havel's works were banned by the government,
but the manuscripts circulated privately and printed in Western Europe. He has
been awarded numerous international prizes
and honorary doctorates.
Hundreds of thousands of workers, students and the general
public across Europe mobilized on May Day '05. In Germany, more than 500,000
trade union activists hit the streets and at least four marches were held in
Paris.
Some 20,000 trade unionists marched in Moscow demanding
the minimum wage be raised. Turkish riot police detained at least 47 people who
rallied in a venue despite an official ban to mark May Day in the country's
biggest city, Istanbul. Tens of thousands of protestors turned out in Vienna to
assail Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel's economic policies and demand his
resignation. Some 4,000 demonstrators marched through the Swiss financial
capital, Zurich, and called for the defence of public services and a fairer
distribution of wealth.
In his first Sunday Angelus blessing, Pope Benedict XVI
issued a clarion call for workers' rights to be respected, saying solidarity,
justice and peace were the pillars of the human family.
"I hope that the young, especially, will not want for work, and that
working conditions will be ever more respectful of the dignity of the human
person," the 78-year-old pope told more than 50,000 pilgrims in St Peter's
Square in an address on May Day.
Then, just on 300 years ago, in April, 1705, a party of Dutch sailors under
the command of Commander Maarten van Delft spent about three months on the
Tiwi
Islands, writing detailed recordings of the Tiwi people, their culture and
unique homeland. (The largest of the Tiwi Islands are Melville and Bathurst Islands, just 80 km, or
50 mi, off the coast of
Darwin.)
First contact was difficult and violent, but soon the Dutch and Tiwi
Aboriginal people got on well. On May 1, 2005, a tricentennial festival was
held in the islands, attended by Dr Hans Sondaal, the Ambassador of the
Netherlands.
"Commander van Delft`s instructions in 1705 were
to capture some of these unknown people and return with them to Batavia;
instructions he chose to ignore. Van Delft also, having wounded a Tiwi
during their 1705 landing on Melville Island, returned his men to the beach
to attend this wounded Tiwi man. These first contacts of reconciliation
encouraged the Dutch explorers to remain some weeks with the Tiwi." Source
2007 The 'AACS
encryption key controversy' of the
pirated HD-DVD/AACS hex code occurred, considered by some sources to be a
pivotal moment in internet free speech.
2009Same-sex
marriages in Sweden
became officially recognized, following the adoption of a new,
gender-neutral law on marriage by the Swedish parliament on
April 1, 2009,
making Sweden the seventh country in the world to open marriage to same sex
couples nationwide.
Tomorrow: Athanasius Kircher and the Voynich Manuscript
"It's a thriller that's keeping Bavarians at the edge of their seats: A ruthless gang of senior citizens has snatched the Zugspitze mountain's Maypole. Ransom negotiations have been unsuccessful so far.
"Erecting a Maypole has been a Bavarian tradition for centuries and the operators of the Zugspitze's gondola and rack railway system proudly refer to their specimen as "the world's highest Maypole": Painted in Bavaria's national colors of white and blue, the 20 meter (65.6 feet) pole usually stands at an altitude of 2,600 meters (8,520 feet) and weighs almost a ton.
"That didn't keep a quartet of Maypole-nappers from figuring out a way to get the colossus back down the mountain: They enlisted a team from Franco-German public broadcaster ARTE, rented a helicopter and dug up the pole from its secret hiding place.
"Stealing a neighboring village's Maypole is also an old Bavarian custom and the thieves usually demand a hearty snack and barrel of beer in exchange for the pole.
"However, news reports diverge as far as the Zugspitze bandits are concerned.
'We're asking for four season tickets and four meals plus beer,' Munich's Süddeutsche Zeitung quoted a spokeswoman for the group as saying. Zugspitze officials on the other hand told German news agency dpa that they'd received a ransom demand of 10 season tickets and free meals throughout the winter.
"The rightful Maypole owners have apparently rejected the deal, but the pole-lifters aren't planning on giving up that quickly.
'The abduction presented a considerable risk to our personal health,' the group's spokeswoman said. She added that her team was used to tough ransom negotiations with the folks at Zugspitze since they had already stolen the pole eight years ago.
'Back then they threatened us with a lawyer, but that didn't help them," she said. "In the end, they had to pay
anyway.'
"Negotiations are expected to continue until Saturday."
Twenty foot penis painted on ancient hill figure
"An ancient hill figure carved into the South Downs has sprouted a 20-foot penis overnight in what experts say could be a bizarre May Day celebration.
"The discovery has been made by the Long Man Morris Men who are visiting The Long Man of Wilmington to celebrate May Day.
"The 231-foot high figure, located near Eastbourne, East Sussex, is causing giggles among tourists who were photographing him in all his new glory.
"Sussex Archaeological Society, which owns the site, said the appendage could have been part of the ancient Beltaine Celtic Festival. Others observers, including a white witch, said it might have been part of a bizarre May Day fertility
ritual ..." Source
reetings from Australia. 
A-Maying
First
Saturday in 
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