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A variety of customs associated with traditional May Day and the Maypole have developed in different, mostly European countries and the United Sttaes. We do not know very much about the traditionalmcelebrationsd, but with the development of pgography in the moid-19th century we have found outbquite a nit about thr celebratiionjs in the late-19th and 20th century. There are many similarities and also differebces from country. The connecting link is the season. May Day is a spring festival and thus a celebvratioin of the earh emerging from winter. This greenery and flowers are va common thread. We notice that the celebration of traditional May Day was particularly popular in Britain. The celebration of May Day as a workers/socialist holiday is a more recent phenomenon and especial probounced in socialist countries.
May Day in Austria as in Germany ia dual holiday. There is the tradutional May Day celebrated in small towns and villages. This is a kind of spring festival where school children dress up. The girls wear flowers in their hair. Both boys and girls commonly wear folk outfits. Then there is the highly politicized May Day--the international Labor Day. I am not sure when May Day was made a national holiday. This was something Socialists throughout Europe demanded beginning in the late-19th century. Governments often resisted the demand. It did not become an official holiday in Germany until the advent of Hitler. We note that during World War I there was a massive demonsttration in Vienna demanding peace (May 1917). Demonstrators demanded a "settlement without Humiliation of any nation". The Communists and splinter leftist groups march separately. After the Soviets and Allies withdrew the Austrians were able to freely celebrate May Day. The modern May Day demonstrations are dominated by the Social Democrats. Peace is normally a major theme. Interestingly during the Cold War, the Communist Party concept of peace was not offened by the Soviet resort to force to maintain its Eastern European empire. And of course Communist supression of free trade uniojns was never raised. Another issue often raised on May Day in Austria is immigration.
At night, boys place maypoles before their sweethearts' windows.
The festivals reportedly began begun in ancient Rome with Flora and reached their height in England during the Middle Ages. On the first day of May, English villagers awakened at daybreak to roam the countryside gathering blossoming flowers and branches. A towering maypole was set up on the village green. This pole, usually made of the trunk of a tall birch tree, was decorated with bright field flowers. The villagers then danced and sang around the maypole, accompanied by a piper. Usually the Morris dance was performed by dancers wearing bells on their colorful costumes. Often the fairest maiden of the village was chosen queen of the May. Sometimes a May king was also chosen. These two led the village dancers and ruled over the festivities. In Elizabethan times, the king and queen were called Robin Hood and Maid Marian. Maypoles were usually set up for the day in small towns, but in London and the
larger towns they were erected permanently. They were considered heathen eyesores by the Puritans. May Day festivals became so gay and wild that the Puritans were able to force the government to forbid them. They soon sprang up again, however, and still continue in many English villages. Today in London children go from house to house bringing flowers in return for pennies. After the pennies are collected, they are thrown into a wishing well. Special wishes are made with hopes they will be granted. The pennies are later collected and given to different charitable organizations.
The French considered the month of May sacred to the Virgin Mary, so they enshrined young girls as May queens in their churches and May queens led processions in honor or the Virgin Mary. Cows also play important roles in French May Day festivals. Bunches of flowers are tied and draped around their tails as they are led in parades. Everyone tries to touch the cows because it is believed to be good luck. On May Day morning, everyone drinks milk still warm from the milking to assure good luck during the year.
May Day is an internation celebratin honoring labor. In Germany it is commonly referred to as Tag der Arbeit. European countries began celebrating May Day as a labor celebration in the late 19th century. The International Workers' Congress in Paris designated May Day as a public holiday in 1889. Trade unions and Socialist political parties promoted May Day as a public holiday, but Kaiser Wilhelm II never approved. The Government did not designate May Day as a holiday until after World War I. Socialist partes dominated the new Weimar Republic that replaced the Kaiser following the War. The National Assembly declared May Day a public holiday (1919). I had thought that Hitler made May Day an official holiday, at the same time he suppresssed free trade unions. So I do not yet have full details on the history of May Day in Germany. Celebrations in Germany are observed by holding meetings, marches and public oratory. It is mostly organized by trade unions. After World War II the Communists celebrations of May Day was a major event. This was one of the Comminist festivals for which the Young Pioneers were used for parades. May Day comes in the Spring and there are also May Day celebrations associated with Spring that have nothing to do with Labor Day celebrations. Some of these celebrations have ancient origins. Hopefully our German reders can tell us more about May Day celebrations. German boys often secretly plant May trees in front of the windows of their sweethearts.
Greek children set out early in the morning to search for the first swallow of spring. When the bird is located, the children go from door to
door singing songs of spring. For their efforts, neighbors offer special treats to eat, such as fruits, nuts, and cakes.
The people of ancient Rome honored Flora, the goddess of flowers and springtime, with a festival called Florialia. The goddess was represented by a small statue wreathed in garlands. A procession of singers and dancers carried the statue past a sacred blossom-decked tree. Later, festivals of this kind spread to other lands conquered by the Romans. Today May Day is known as the happiest day of the year in Italy. All varieties of flowers are placed in and around places of worship. Boys often serenade their sweethearts on this day.
The Tsarist Government supressed labor organization and Socialist political parties. The Bolshevicks after the Revolution made May Day a makor holiday in the Soviet Union. It was in the Soviet Union that the largest May Day parades were held. Soviet May Days differed from those in Western Europe. The Soviets made peace a major theme and ordered Communist parties in the West to pursue this theme. The Soviets also used May Day as a show case for new military weaponry.
In Switzerland, a May pine tree is often placed under a girl's window.
The Puritans frowned on May Day, so the day has never been celebrated with as much enthusiasm in the United States as in Great Britain. We do note that May Day was a popular holiday celebrated at schools in America during the early 20th cebtury. A good example is an unidentified Indianapolis school in 1929.
But May Day is celebrated by dancing and singing around a maypole tied with colorful streamers or ribbons. The dancers twist the streamers around the pole to make a pretty pattern to be enjoyed by all. On college campuses a May queen is often chosen and the old dances are performed around a maypole. Children often gather spring flowers, place them in handmade paper May baskets and hang them on the doorknobs of relatives and friends--they ring the doorbells and run away, leaving their flowers as a surprise. At May Day parties children select May queens, dance around the maypole, and sing May Day songs. These festivals often occur in parks or schools. May Day celebrations were not all My polls. We note a California school that had a Chinese or perhaps internatuinal theme.
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