I am not an expert on May Day at all, but I do know that it is one of the most celebrated days on the calendar, interestingly enough for different reasons. In medieval times the day was celebrated with festivals to fertility, with flowered maypoles, dancing and singing to pagan gods. That evolved into a more secular celebration of spring. Later in 1886, May 1 was designated as "Labour Day," with coordinated strikes and became somewhat of a Communist worker celebration. During the Cold War Era in the 1950's to frame the day in religious terms, the Catholic Church deemed it the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. I do remember celebrating that day in high school because we had Sisters of St. Joseph. I did not know about its origin and remember being surprised that we didn't celebrate it on March 19, identified on most calendars as St. Joseph's Day- the day when bakeries made amazing pastries. Not surprising, this was celebrated more by Italians. (Rome, Catholic Church, etc.) The CSJ schools no longer celebrate May 1, but have returned to the March date.
So, Happy May Day all, and what a beautiful one we are having with temps on the way to the 80's. Maybe, I'll do a little spring cleaning, say prayer or two to St. Joseph, and hit the great outdoors in celebration. Oh, and I officially deem this day (in 2010 at least) Beat the Phillies Again Day.
No comments:
Post a Comment