Happy May Day!

[lillbet]

From The Writer's Almanac:

Today is May Day, a holiday with its roots in the fertility celebrations of pre-Christian Europe. At Oxford University, otherwise intelligent young scholars jump off the Magdalen Bridge into a section of the Cherwell River that is two feet deep. At St. Andrews in Scotland, students gather on the beach the night before May Day, build bonfires, and then at sunrise they run into the very cold North Sea, some of them without any clothes on. There are bonfires and revelry in rural Germany. And there's hula dancing to the "May Day is Lei Day" song in Hawaii. In Minneapolis, there's the May Day Parade that marches south down Bloomington Avenue. It's organized by the In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, now in its 35th year and attracting about 35,000 people.

May Day is also Labor Day for much of the world, a day to commemorate the economic and social improvements of workers, like the eight-hour workday. It evolved from the 1886 Haymarket Square riots, so in the United States, President Cleveland moved Labor Day to September to disassociate it with the radical left. In 1958, U.S. Congress under Eisenhower proclaimed May 1 "Loyalty Day" and also "Law Day" — two holidays that have not caught on. May Day is still a prominent holiday in communist countries like Cuba and the People's Republic of China. Two years ago, a May Day rally in Los Angeles in support of illegal immigrants turned into the L.A. May Day Mêlée after police fired rubber bullets into a crowd of demonstrators they had ordered to disperse.

Incidentally, the international distress signal code word "Mayday" has nothing to do with May 1st. It's actually derived from the French m'aider,meaning, come help me.

F. Scott Fitzgerald (books by this author) wrote a novelette entitled "May Day," which appeared in 1920.

Comments

[susanbones111.livejournal.com]

We have had a huge Immigration March go right past our office building for three years in a row now on May Day. It gets loud around here. And don't even bother to try and leave the building to cross the parade route during that time.

[lillbet.livejournal.com]

WHEEEEEEE! XD

It's like it's a built in excuse to scream, shout and make a mess of things. I'll go with that!

[susanbones111.livejournal.com]

The march is going by our building right now. We have riot police in full gear standing right in front of our building. There are cops mounted on horses, police dogs and a helicopter. I don't think I would shout too much. *lol*

[lillbet.livejournal.com]

Yikes. Yeah, don't draw attention to yourself, there.

[susanbones111.livejournal.com]

I was afraid that they were going to search my bag containing minestrone soup when I broke the police lines. Good thing they didn't because I took an extra butter.

[taperoo2k.livejournal.com]

Only 10 idiotic students managed to jump over the bridge into the shallow depths
of the cherwell this year.

[lillbet.livejournal.com]

*snrk* Remind me to tell you of some of the shenanigans we got into in school. Two words "nekkid" and "butt-pirating". Annnnnnd if that doesn't get me in trouble nothing will.

[roh-wyn.livejournal.com]

It evolved from the 1886 Haymarket Square riots, so in the United States, President Cleveland moved Labor Day to September to disassociate it with the radical left.

Those darn commies, they ruin everything! ;)

I knew May Day was all about spring, but I always wondered how it became tied to left-wing politics. Your LJ is now my #1 destination for personal edification. :D

[lillbet.livejournal.com]

Your LJ is now my #1 destination for personal edification. :D,/i>

Ah thenkyu. Sounds like a tagline: "Lillbet's journal- edifying since August 2007."