May Day
Published on May 1, 2008 at 12:44 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under calendars.
Today, May 1, is often called May Day. It is a festival day in many parts of the world. For us at the college, it is just another day before the end of the semester where we are all frantic trying to get everything done that needs to be done by the end of next week.
May Day festivities trace back to ancient times. Here in the United States, we celebrate seasons according to astronomical events, such as the equinoxes and the solstices. Spring begins at the Vernal Equinox and ends at the Summer Solstice. Summer begins with the Summer Solstice and ends with the Autumnal Equinox. Autumn (or Fall) begins with the Autumnal Equinox and ends at the Winter Solstice. And, Winter begins with the Winter Solstice and ends at the Vernal Equinox. This is how we do it in the USA. But, even as a child, these dates didn’t make sense to me. After all, it gets cold before the Winter Solstice, which usually falls about December 21. And, it starts to get warm and leaves start to bud out on trees and weeks start to grow well before March 21, the typical time of the Vernal Equinox. Yes, it can still be cold in March, but around here, it is often warming up by then. And, it is often hot by the middle of May and in June. In fact, some of our hottest days come end of May, June, July, and early August. By September, it is normally getting cooler. So, it is getting hot before summertime, and it is getting cooler again before Fall arrives. So, the seasons all seem mixed up.
Well, that is because in this country we are stuck on those dates (the equinoxes and solstices) when well defined astronomical events are happening. In may parts of the world, the seasons have historically been a bit out of sync with those dates. One common way of doing the seasons is to set fix the seasons not to the equinoxes and solstice, but to the dates midway between the equinoxes and solstices, called cross-quarter days. That makes more sense to me, because it makes the seasons more symmetric. The Summer Solstice marks the longest day of the year. A few weeks before and after the solstice, the length of days are the same. So, wouldn’t it make sense for those dates to be the same season? That would make the summer start in early May and the Fall start in August. Here in Texas, it is often hot until the middle or late part of August, but for most places farther north, the summer heat is breaking in early August, so that works well. So, if the seasons start at the cross-quarter days, then the Summer Solstice would mark midsummer. Indeed, in some cultures, it does coincide with a midsummer festival.
May 1 is about midway between the Vernal Equinox and the Summer Solstice. It is not exactly a cross-staff day (that is a few days later), but it is close, and it is the first day of a month. That makes it a convenient day to mark as a dividing line between spring and summer. It is no wonder, then, that May 1 has an ancient link to seasonal celebrations.
Since we officially mark the seasons at the solstices and equinoxes here in the US, May Day has little meaning in terms of seasons. But, there are still communities here that do May Day celebrations, but not as festivals marking the beginning of seasons.
But, May Day has another, more modern, association than as a season marker. It is also International Worker’s Day. The US does not celebrate it as such, because we have our own Labor Day holiday at the end of the summer. But, many countries celebrate it as their labor day. May Day is also claimed by communists as a day to celebrate the worker. Since communism claimed May Day, and since the Soviet Union had May 1 as a holiday, May 1 has also been celebrated in this country off and on as a sort of counter-communist day. It was first “Americanization Day,” and was celebrated in the 1920’s as a counter to May Day celebrations, which were deemed “too communist.” In 1958, in the height of the cold war, the US Congress declared May 1 to be Loyalty Day. It is an official day, but it is not a federal holiday, so banks are open and the post office delivers mail, so people often don’t notice it. May 1 is also the National Day of Prayer.
But, May 1 has another meaning to me. It is also the day that Byrd received a second chance at life with an organ transplant. So that makes it special for me.
-Astroprof
Sili on May 1, 2008 at 7:27 pm: 1
For what it’s worth (not much) in Denmark Spring is March-May, Summer June-August and so forth. Usually makes sense in terms of temperature and agriculture.