Hooray Hooray Its the First of May

The first day of May in France is La Fête du Travail (Labor Day). It is a holiday, which is nice, except when it's a Sunday and then you feel slighted. Anyway.

May 1 is also La Fête du Muguet, and the tradition is to give the ones you love a little bouquet of lily-of-the-valley, for good luck and to celebrate the arrival of spring. Originally the idea was to take the kids into the forest and (lose them) pick your own muguet together.

The earliest May Day celebrations appeared in pre-Christian Europe, as in the Celtic celebration of Beltane, and the Walpurgis Night of the Germanic countries. Many pre-Christian indigenous celebrations were eventually banned or Christianized during the process of Christianization in Europe. As a result, a more secular version of the holiday continued to be observed in the schools and churches of Europe well into the 20th century.

In this form, May Day may be best known for its tradition of dancing the Maypole and crowning of the Queen of the May. Today various Neopagan groups celebrate reconstructed (to varying degrees) versions of these customs on 1 May.

The day was a traditional summer holiday in many pre-Christian European pagan cultures. While February 1 was the first day of Spring, May 1 was the first day of summer; hence, the summer solstice on June 25 (now June 21) was Midsummer. In the Roman Catholic tradition, May is observed as Mary's month, and in these circles May Day is usually a celebration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In this connection, in works of art, school skits, and so forth, Mary's head will often be adorned with flowers. Fading in popularity since the late 20th century is the giving of "May baskets," small baskets of sweets and/or flowers, usually left anonymously on neighbors' doorsteps.

May is the fifth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. It is also a month within the season of spring.
May begins with the sun in the sign of Taurus and ends in the sign of Gemini. Astronomically speaking, the sun begins in the constellation of Aries and ends in the constellation of Taurus.

The month may have been named for the Greek goddess Maia, who was identified with the Roman era goddess of fertility,

I can remember taking and receiving May baskets when I was a kid. It was fun to hang them on the door knob ring the bell or knock and then run so no one knew where it came from (Of course, we always knew) and I can remember getting them at school as a teacher. Sadly, I don't think this is done much anymore.

I can also remember a naughty little poem for May Day - (It probably celebrates the goddess of fertility mentioned above)

Hooray, hooray Its the first of May
Outside screwing starts today!