The Merry Month of May

At the heart of Awakenings are historical accounts that embrace the past, empower the present and enrich the future. Even though the first day of May has already come and gone and with it the celebration of May Day, this day is shrouded in poignant history. Heartfelt thanks are extended to author Micki Peluso who has graciously accepted my invitation to share one of her articles on Awakenings.  

 

Take it away, Micki...

By Micki Peluso

May Day is usually, but not always, celebrated on the first of May, although in recent years enthusiasm for the holiday has waned considerably. Many Staten Islanders in New York can recall festivities in the past several decades which included springtime sports, and Maypoles decorated with bright ribbons streaming from the top of the pole. Young children danced around the pole which was traditionally garbed in ribbons and reveled in the warmth of spring. Older girls crowned a May Queen, and young girls often made baskets which they filled with flowers and hung on the doors of their friends. Many parts of the country still participate in these activities although my borough of Staten Island does not seem to be among them.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

The month of May has always been a favorite month, with spring in full bloom and summer close behind. On the original Roman calendar, May was the third month of the year but the revised calendar moved it to the fifth month. The origin of the name, researchers say, most likely comes from Maia, a mother of Mercury. In Roman times and throughout history, May has been considered an unlucky month for marriages, stemming back to the days when both the festival of the dead and the festival of the goddess of chastity were celebrated in May. This may explain the popularity of June weddings.

Source: Google Images

Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, has held May Day celebrations with field sports, dancing around the Maypole and crowning a May Queen with a headdress of fresh flowers. On some occasions college records in sports were broken on that day, possibly due to the enthusiasm for the holiday. The California State Normal School in San José originated May Day festivities in 1902, with games for their kindergarten students. By 1910, the popularity of this holiday had grown to such proportion that 6000 spectators gathered to watch the celebration.

 

Statue of Matthew Vassar surrounded by the splendor of a Hudson Valley spring

These observances have little to do with the ritualistic and symbolic fetes of olden days. Historians of folk customs have traced the May Day ritual back to the Floralia of the Romans, the festival of Flora, goddess of flowers. This festival was instituted in 238 BC and was celebrated from April 23 until May 3rd.

Triumph of Flora by Tiepolo (ca. 1743), a scene based on Ovid's description of the Floralia

During the four or five centuries that Rome occupied Britain, the May Day Festival was introduced and flourished. One theory states that the May Day was initially a phallic festival in India and Egypt, marking the renewal of the fertility of nature at springtime. Researchers claim that the Romans considered the Maypole to be a phallic symbol, and their merrymaking included quite a few licentious acts which were the focus of May Day celebrations in England for some time.

British Life & Culture by Mandy Barrow

The Morris Dance was a pagan dance which consisted of male dancers in fantastic costumes dancing about the Maypole. The name Morris, a word of Moorish origin, is associated with mummers, who acted out the ritual of the pagan god who celebrated his revival after death. Another custom was the May Day procession of a Man-horse, in Cornwall, where the central figure, "Oss Oss”, was a witch doctor disguised as a horse and wearing a mask. Dancers acted as attendants, sang May Day songs and beat on drums.

Morris dancing on May Day in Oxford, England, in 2004.

These activities greatly offended the Puritans, who coerced the Parliament of 1644 to ban the erection of Maypoles. The Restoration repealed the prohibition, and in 1661, to celebrate the revival of the old custom, a Maypole, 143 feet high was raised. Sir Isaac Newton purchased the pole in 1717 and used it as a support for his telescope in Essex.

Interesting Fact

The tallest maypole is said to have been erected in London on the Strand in 1661; it stood over 143 feet high. It was felled in 1717, when it was used by Isaac Newton to support Huygen's new reflecting telescope.

 

The New England Puritans also voiced objections to May Day festivities, which incited Gov. Endicott of Massachusettsin 1660, to lead a group of men to Merrymount (Merry Mount), where the dreaded Maypole had been erected. The men chopped the pole down and named the place Mount Dragon, after the Idol of the Philistines that fell before the Ark.

 

May Day was said to have magical rites, such as those of Halloween. Samuel Pepys, the English diarist, related how his wife went to the country each May Day to wash her face in dew, a magic ritual ensuring a good complexion. Poetess Ann May Lawler, put the custom to verse: 

“Ever on the first of May did magic walk — the legends say. Maiden rose at early dawn to find a dew-ensequinned lawn, and she who humbly bathed her face in dewdrops, in the magic place, she, they say, may never fear the curse of freckles for one year."

When Labor Day was established in this country, the workers of Europe decided to hold a similar celebration, which they observed on May 1st. Due to lively labor politics, the date became better known for riots, bombings and burned cities. Radicals in the U.S. followed the European example and held demonstrations on May 1st. Later many U.S. cities, particularly New York City, demonstrated on May Day with parades of radical, labor, and other organizations, followed by mass meetings.

Socialists in Union Square, N.Y.C. on May 1st 1912

The beginning of May, whether celebrated with Maypoles and flower festivals, or labor demonstrations, or no celebrations at all, introduces a month with few surprises. While March “comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb," and April teases with balmy weather one day and pseudo-winter the next, the month of May brings a stable promise of ever better days to come.

Written by Micki Peluso, author of 
"...And the Whippoorwill Sang"
 
Happy times, a sunny day, a driving drunk, eight lives forever changed. A mother’s account of actual events of her family, filled with laughter, love, loss, and survival. It is a day like any other, except the intense heat wave has broken and signs of early fall are in the air. Around the dining room table of her 100 year old farmhouse Micki Peluso's six children along with three of their friends eagerly gulp down a chicken dinner. As soon as the last morsel is ravished, the lot of them is off in different directions. Except for the one whose turn it is to do the dishes. After offering her mother a buck if she’ll do them, with an impish grin, the child rushes out the front door, too excited for a hug, calling out, "Bye Mom," as the door slams shut. For the Peluso’s the nightmare begins.