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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 20559
[Society]
Date Posted:
4/22/2009
3:42:18 pm EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 2,740
RSS: 17,543
Comments: 2
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Old York Revives May Day
Author: Richard Bowen Source: Seacoast Online
Title: OLD YORK REVIVES MAY DAY
The tradition of May Day celebrations, with their customary maypoles, goes far back in history. The Druids of ancient Britain observed May 1 as the festival of Beltane, which celebrated the burgeoning spring sun. Later, the Romans incorporated their traditional feast time, Floralia, a celebration of the goddess of flowers, with the earlier customs of the Druids. By the middle ages, cities and villages in England and other European countries observed May Day as a matter of course with much merrymaking and frivolity.
The day was not merely child's play — with bawdy singing and drinking of spirits, the original May Day festivals celebrated pagan mating and fertility rites.
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Community Thoughts: There are 2 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| It Ain't Easy | Apr 23rd. at 11:50:31 am EDT
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Fuil Fitheach Sian (Missoula, Montana) - Email Me
Being a Pagan Socialist on May Day.
I gotta swing two events in one evening. yikes.
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| When I Was A Child | Apr 23rd. at 7:17:04 am EDT
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Grumpy Raven (Eagle, Colorado) - Email Me
we used to make May baskets for our mothers (usually with tissue flowers) - to be left on the doorstep on May 1. I remember doing this in at least kindergarten, first & second grade. I also dimly recall having a maypole at least one year. (I'm middle-aged but not ancient) .
Glad to see that York, Maine is instituting a maypole. My family stories have it that our Puritan ancestors moved to Maine (York area, actually) because they couldn't stand the strict Puritans in the rest of Massachusetts.
I actually think that the May flowers & maypole customs died out in the U.S. because of the socialists & communists celebrating their big holiday on that day. Ironically, May Day as a socialist holiday actually started in the United States.
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