Happy May Day!

April showers bring May flowers -- says the cliche. And it's now the merry month of May!

In Europe, today's the day they celebrate the onset of spring. It probably dates back to a pagan celebration. By the time of the Middle Ages, the Church had usurped the festival, and a virgin was selected as the May Queen. (Side note: One of the life highlights of my sister-in-law, Gail, was being the May Queen as young child in parochial school.) In the olden days (further back than when Gail was MQ) they'd carry the May Queen over the fields, trying to transfer her fertility to the soil.

Somehow or other, all of this morphed into the May pole dance that you might be familiar with.

And then there's other May Day references:

Of course, there's the pinko-commie connection. The socialist labor union declared May 1 as International Labor Day in Europe. This was in 1889. Seven years earlier (1882), our American labor movement had already decided Labor Day was the first Monday of September. We were ticked off that the foreigners had chosen a different day, so we retaliated. In 1894, our Congress made the September day a national holiday. Relations between socialists and red-blooded Americans haven't been the same since.

And then there's the May Day (or mayday) that is the distress signal for aircraft and ships. That one has nothing whatsoever to do with the others. My exhaustive research shows it is an adaptation of the French expression (venez) m'aider "(come) help me!"

I share these tidbits in order to demonstrate my ability to share information of dubious relevance. Can you tell it's Friday? Can you tell I'm avoiding real work?

Enjoy the flowers of May!