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The Books“For it giveth unto all lovers courage, that lusty month of May.” ~ Sir Thomas Malory
Happy First Day of Summer!
Wait, you say. It’s only May 1. Summer starts June 21.
But in Northern Europe, the first day of May traditionally marked the beginning of Summer, when you could reasonably expect the weather would be good enough for farming.
And that was all the excuse a body needed to get out and party. At first light, lads and lasses would head out into the woods to “gather the May,” making garlands of flowers and returning home at sunrise to hang their treasures over the doors of their sweethearts. Assuming they actually made it back to the village, the rest of the day was spent in feasting, singing, and dancing around the May pole on the village green.
For the ladies, another advantage of being out before dawn (other than running around in the shadowy woods unsupervised with a passel of young men) was the access to May dew, which was said to make a woman beautiful. Women continued to travel to the country well into the 19th century expressly to gather dew off the grass on May Day morn.
Some random facts about May Day:
Its roots go back to the Roman festival of Floralia, celebrating Flora, a goddess of flowers and Spring (And drinking. How can you not get behind celebrations for a goddess of drinking?)
Bealtaine, the neopagan name for the holiday, is simply the Old Irish word for May Day. The month of May was Mí Bhealtaine, from a root meaning “bright fire” — which is why elebrations included bonfires on the hilltops, a tradition which survived well into the 20th century and which still can be found in some areas today.
The Old English name for May was “Þrimilci-mōnaþ,” or Trimilki, The Month of Three Milkings, i.e. the time that farmers began to milk their cows three times a day.
May Day became associated with labor unions after the Federation of Organized Trade and Labor Unions unanimously set May 1, 1886 as the date by which an eight-hour work day would become standard. On that date, an estimated 300,000-500,000 workers went on strike across the U.S. in various cities in support of this “radical” idea.
May Day’s mischief and magic play a key role in bringing not one, not two, but three couples together in Immortal Champion, including Lady Eleanor’s maid Lucy and the dashing Henry Percy of Alnwick. You’ll find a little taste of Lucy and Henry’s May Day dalliance after the jump.
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