Everything you ever wanted to know about May Day.
And then
some. And then some more. Yeah, there's my regular mix of information,
entertainment, far reaching tangents; some enlightenment, some offensive
material (you'll know it when you see it), and an f-bomb. I even have a
disclaimer, which I frequently do.
Because there is
SOOOOO much information out there about this particular date (I was shocked), I am resorting
to, um, appropriating (with minor edits) most of the text of this post from
various Wikipedia articles, and throwing in my sundry snide comments along the
way. Had I known in advance what a bottomless pit this was, I would have
started days ago and come up with my own verbiage, per my usual approach. In
the section of articles, I have put in
bold the terms that have subsequent articles. In the last On This Day
section, I am merely
highlighting the significant items so it’s easier for you to skim over
things
without having necessarily to read them. (I figure you’ll either be
tired or
bored, or both, by then. See? I’m always thinking of you.) I mean, let's
be real, I can't even promise you I've read the whole thing.
May Day
May Day is a public holiday usually celebrated on May 1st.
It is an ancient Northern Hemisphere spring festival and a traditional spring
holiday in many cultures. Dances, singing, and cake are usually part of the
festivities. In the late 19th century, May Day was chosen as the date for International Workers' Day by the
Socialists and Communists of the Second International to commemorate the Haymarket affair in Chicago.
International Workers' Day can also be referred to as "May Day", but
it is a different celebration from the traditional May Day.
The earliest known May celebrations appeared with the Floralia, festival of Flora, the Roman
goddess of flowers, held on April 27th during the Roman Republic
era, and the Maiouma or Maiuma, a festival celebrating Dionysus and Aphrodite
on an unknown date in May every three years. The Floralia opened with
theatrical performances. In the Floralia, Ovid says that hares and goats were
released as part of the festivities. Persius
writes that crowds were pelted with vetches, beans, and lupins. A ritual called
the Florifertum was performed on either April 27th or May 3rd,
during which a bundle of wheat ears was carried into a shrine, though it is not
clear if this devotion was made to Flora or Ceres. Floralia concluded with
competitive events and spectacles, and a sacrifice to Flora.
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| Not this guy. Persius, not Perseus. (Better watch that blade, buddy.) |
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| Nope, not this guy either. |
According to the 6th century chronicles of John Malalas, the
Maiouma was a "nocturnal
dramatic festival, held every three years and known as Orgies, that is, the Mysteries of Dionysus and Aphrodite" and
that it was "known as the Maioumas because it is celebrated in the month of
May-Artemisios". During this time, enough money was set aside by the
government for torches, lights, and other expenses to cover a thirty-day
festival of "all-night revels." The Maiouma was celebrated with
splendorous banquets and offerings. Its reputation for licentiousness caused it
to be suppressed during the reign of Emperor Constantine, though a less
debauched version of it was briefly restored during the reigns of Arcadius and
Honorius, only to be suppressed again during the same period.
[Maioumas and orgies. Not going there. You’ll have to
read up on that on your own.]
A later May festival celebrated in Germanic countries, Walpurgis Night, commemorates the
official canonization of Saint Walpurga on May 1st, 870. In Gaelic
culture, the evening of April 30th was the celebration of Beltane (which translates to
"lucky fire"), the start of the summer season. First attested in 900
AD, the celebration mainly focused on the symbolic use of fire to bless cattle
and other livestock as they were moved to summer pastures. This custom
continued into the early 19th century, during which time cattle would be made
to jump over fires to protect their milk from being stolen by fairies. People
would also leap over the fires for luck.
Since the 18th century, many Roman Catholics have observed
May – and May Day – with various May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary In
works of art, school skits, and so forth, Mary's head will often be adorned
with flowers in a May crowning. May 1st
s also one of two feast days of the Catholic patron saint of workers St Joseph
the Worker, a carpenter, husband to Mother Mary, and surrogate father of Jesus.
Replacing another feast to St. Joseph, this date was chosen by Pope Pius XII in
1955 as a counterpoint to the communist International Workers Day celebrations
on May Day.
The best known modern May Day traditions, observed both in
Europe and North America, include dancing around the maypole and crowning the Queen
of May. Fading in popularity since the late 20th century is the tradition
of giving of "May baskets," small baskets of sweets or flowers,
usually left anonymously on neighbours' doorsteps.
In the late 20th century, many neopagans began
reconstructing some of the older pagan festivals and combining them with more
recently developed European secular and Catholic traditions, and celebrating
May Day as a pagan religious festival.
International
Workers' Day
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| Vienna, Austria, 2013 |
International Workers' Day, also known as Workers' Day,
Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration
of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international
labour movement which occurs every year on May Day (May 1st), an
ancient European spring festival.
The date was chosen by a pan-national organization of
socialist and communist political parties to commemorate the Haymarket affair,
which occurred in Chicago on May 4, 1886. The 1904 Sixth Conference in
Amsterdam of the Second International (an organisation of socialist and labour
parties formed in Paris on July 14, 1889 and dissolved in 1916), called on
"all Social Democratic Party organisations and trade unions of all
countries to demonstrate energetically on the First of May for the legal
establishment of the 8-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and
for universal peace."
The first of May is a national, public holiday in many
countries across the world, in most cases as "Labour Day",
"International Workers' Day" or some similar name – although some
countries celebrate a Labour Day on other dates significant to them, such as
the United States, which celebrates Labor
Day on the first Monday of September.
Labor Day
Labor Day in the United States of America is a public
holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. It honors the American
labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength,
prosperity, laws, and well-being of the country. It is the Monday of the long
weekend known as Labor Day Weekend. It is recognized as a federal holiday.
Beginning in the late 19th century, as the trade union and
labor movements grew, trade unionists proposed that a day be set aside to
celebrate labor. "Labor Day" was promoted by the Central Labor Union
and the Knights of Labor, which organized the first parade in New York City. In
1887, Oregon was the first state of the United States to make it an official
public holiday. By the time it became an official federal holiday in 1894,
thirty states in the United States officially celebrated Labor Day.
The Haymarket affair
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| This 1886 engraving was the most widely reproduced image of the Haymarket Affair. It shows Methodist pastor Samuel Fielden speaking, the bomb exploding, and the riot beginning simultaneously; in reality, Fielden had finished speaking before the explosion. |
The Haymarket affair (also known as the Haymarket massacre,
Haymarket riot, or Haymarket Square riot) was the aftermath of a bombing that
took place at a labor demonstration on May 4, 1886 at Haymarket Square in
Chicago. It began as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an
eight-hour work day, the day after police killed eight workers. An unknown
person threw a dynamite bomb at the police as they acted to disperse the
meeting, and the bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven
police officers and at least four civilians; dozens of others were wounded.
In the internationally publicized legal proceedings that
followed, eight anarchists were convicted of conspiracy. The evidence was that
one of the defendants may have built the bomb, but none of those on trial had
thrown it. Seven were sentenced to death and one to a term of 15 years in
prison. Illinois governor Richard J. Oglesby commuted two of the sentences to
terms of life in prison; another committed suicide in jail rather than face the
gallows. The other four were hanged on November 11, 1887. In 1893, Illinois
Governor John Peter Altgeld pardoned the remaining defendants and criticized
the trial.
The Haymarket Affair is generally considered significant as
the origin of International Workers' Day held on May 1st.
The Floralia
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| Triumph of Flora by Tiepolo (ca. 1743), a scene based on Ovid's description of the Floralia |
The Floralia was a festival in ancient Roman religious
practice in honor of the goddess Flora, held April 27th during the
Republican era, or April 28th in the Julian calendar. The festival
included Ludi Florae, the "Games of Flora" which lasted for six days
under the empire.
The festival had a licentious, pleasure-seeking atmosphere.
In contrast to many festivals which had a patrician character, the games of
Flora were plebeian in nature.
Walpurgis Night
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| Walpurgisnacht at the open-air theatre in Heidelberg |
Walpurgis Night, an abbreviation of Saint Walpurgis Night
(from the German Sankt Walpurgisnacht), also known as Saint Walpurga's Eve
(alternatively spelled Saint Walburga's Eve), is the eve of the Christian feast
day of Saint Walpurga, an 8th-century abbess in Francia, and is celebrated on
the night of April 30th and the day of May 1st. This
feast commemorates the canonization of Saint Walpurga and the movement of her
relics to Eichstätt, both of which occurred on May 1, 870.
Saint Walpurga was hailed by the Christians of Germany for
battling "pest, rabies and whooping cough, as well as against
witchcraft." In Germanic folklore, Hexennacht (Dutch: heksennacht),
literally "Witches' Night", was believed to be the night of a
witches' meeting on the Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz Mountains, a
range of wooded hills in central Germany between the rivers Weser and Elbe.
Christians prayed to God through the intercession of Saint Walpurga in order to
protect themselves from witchcraft, as Saint Walpurga was successful in
converting the local populace to Christianity.[10] In parts of Christendom,
people continue to light bonfires on Saint Walpurga's Eve in order to ward off
evil spirits and witches. Others have historically made Christian pilgrimages
to Saint Walburga's tomb in Eichstätt on the Feast of Saint Walburga, often
obtaining vials of Saint Walburga's oil.
Local variants of Walpurgis Night are observed throughout
Northern- and Central Europe in the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic,
Slovenia, Sweden, Norway, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, and Estonia. In Denmark,
the tradition with bonfires to ward off the witches is observed as Saint John's
Eve.
Beltane
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| A Beltane bonfire on Calton Hill in Edinburgh |
Beltane or Beltain is the Gaelic May Day festival. Most
commonly it is held on May 1st, or about halfway between the spring
equinox and the summer solstice. Historically, it was widely observed throughout
Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. In Irish the name for the festival day
is Lá Bealtaine, in Scottish Gaelic Là Bealltainn, and in Manx Gaelic Laa
Boaltinn/Boaldyn. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals—along with
Samhain, Imbolc and Lughnasadh—and is similar to the Welsh Calan Mai.
Beltane is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish
literature and is associated with important events in Irish mythology. Also
known as Cétshamhain ("first of summer"), it marked the beginning of
summer and was when cattle were driven out to the summer pastures. Rituals were
performed to protect the cattle, crops and people, and to encourage growth.
Special bonfires were kindled, and their flames, smoke and ashes were deemed to
have protective powers. The people and their cattle would walk around or
between bonfires, and sometimes leap over the flames or embers. All household
fires would be doused and then re-lit from the Beltane bonfire. These
gatherings would be accompanied by a feast, and some of the food and drink
would be offered to the aos sí. Doors, windows, byres and livestock would be
decorated with yellow May flowers, perhaps because they evoked fire. In parts
of Ireland, people would make a May Bush: typically a thorn bush or branch
decorated with flowers, ribbons, bright shells and rushlights. Holy wells were
also visited, while Beltane dew was thought to bring beauty and maintain
youthfulness. Many of these customs were part of May Day or Midsummer festivals
in other parts of Great Britain and Europe.
Beltane celebrations had largely died out by the mid-20th
century, although some of its customs continued and in some places it has been
revived as a cultural event. Since the late 20th century, Celtic neopagans and
Wiccans have observed Beltane, or something based on it, as a religious
holiday. Neopagans in the Southern Hemisphere often celebrate Beltane at the
other end of the year (around November 1st).
Interesting, isn't it? How the anti-witch Walpurgis Night and the Wiccan Beltane are observed in similar fashion...
May Crowning
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| Virgo by Josef Moroder-Lusenberg |
May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary refer to special
Marian devotions held in the Catholic Church during the month of May honoring
the Virgin Mary as "the Queen of May". These services may take place
inside or outside. A "May Crowning" is a traditional Roman Catholic
ritual that occurs in the month of May.
A number of traditions link the month of May to Mary.
Alfonso in the 13th century wrote in his Cantigas de Santa Maria about the
special honoring of Mary during specific dates in May. Eventually, the entire
month was filled with special observances and devotions to Mary.
The origin of the conventional May devotion is still
relatively unknown. Herbert Thurston identifies the seventeenth century as the
earliest instance of the adoption of the custom of consecrating the month of
May to the Blessed Virgin by special observances. It is certain that this form
of Marian devotion began in Italy. Around 1739, witnesses speak of a particular
form of Marian devotion in May in Grezzano near Verona. In 1747 the Archbishop
of Genoa recommended the May devotion as a devotion for the home. Specific
prayers for them were promulgated in Rome in 1838.
According to Frederick Holweck, the May devotion in its
present form originated at Rome where Father Latomia of the Roman College of
the Society of Jesus, to counteract infidelity and immorality among the
students, made a vow at the end of the eighteenth century to devote the month
of May to Mary. From Rome the practice spread to the other Jesuit colleges and
thence to nearly every Catholic church of the Latin rite. In Rome by 1813, May
devotions were held in as many as twenty churches. From Italy, May devotions
soon spread to France. In Belgium, the May devotions, at least as a private
devotion, were already known by 1803. The tradition of honoring Mary in a
month-long May devotion spread eventually around the Roman Catholic world in
the 19th century together with a month-long devotion to Jesus in June and the
Rosary in October.
The May Queen
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| A May Queen of New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada circa 1877 |
The May Queen or Queen of May is a personification of the
May Day holiday, and of springtime and also summer. The May Queen is a girl who
must ride or walk at the front of a parade for May Day celebrations. She wears
a white gown to symbolise purity and usually a tiara or crown. Her duty is to
begin the May Day celebrations. She is generally crowned by flowers and makes a
speech before the dancing begins. Certain age-groups dance round a Maypole
celebrating youth and the spring time.
James George Frazer speculated that the figure of the May
Queen was linked to ancient tree worship.
In the High Middle Ages in England the May Queen was also
known as the "Summer Queen". George C. Homans points out: "The
time from Hocktide, after Easter Week, to Lammas (August 1st) was
summer (estas)."
In 1557, a London diarist called Henry Machyn wrote:
"The xxx day of May was a goly May-gam in
Fanch-chyrchestrett with drumes and gunes and pykes, and ix wordes dyd ryd; and
thay had speches evere man, and the morris dansse and the sauden, and an elevant
with the castyll, and the sauden and yonge morens with targattes and darttes,
and the lord and the lade of the Maye".
[I’m glad they included the original text so we can see that
today’s English isn’t as bad as we think it is. Luckily for us though they
provided a translation.]
Modern English: On the 30th day of May was a
jolly May-game in Fenchurch Street (London) with drums and guns and pikes, The
Nine Worthies did ride; and they all had speeches, and the morris dance and
sultan and an elephant with a castle and the sultan and young moors with
shields and arrows, and the lord and lady of the May".
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| Morris dancers with handkerchiefs, Tim Green from Bradford, 23 April 2016 |
Many areas keep this tradition alive today. The oldest
unbroken tradition is Hayfield, Derbyshire, based on a much older May Fair.
Another notable event includes the one in the Brentham Garden Suburb, England
which hosts it annually. It has the second oldest unbroken tradition although
the May Queen of All London Festival at Hayes Common in Bromley is a close
contender having been in existence for 105 years as of 2017. A May Day festival
is held on the village green at Aldborough, North Yorkshire on a site that
dates back to Roman times and the settlement of Isurium Brigantum. A May queen
is selected from a group of 13 upward girls by the young dancers. She returns
the next year to crown the new May Queen and stays in the procession. The
largest event in this tradition in modern Britain is the Beltane Fire Festival
in Edinburgh, Scotland.
A May Day celebration held annually since 1870 in New
Westminster, British Columbia, Canada has the distinction of being the longest
running May Day celebration of its kind in the British Commonwealth.
Maypole
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| Dancing around the maypole, in Åmmeberg, Sweden |
A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various
European folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place.
The festivals may occur on May Day (May 1st) or
Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some countries it is instead erected at
Midsummer. In some cases the maypole is a permanent feature that is only
utilised during the festival, although in other cases it is erected
specifically for the purpose before being taken down again.
Primarily found within the nations of Germanic Europe and
the neighbouring areas which they have influenced, its origins remain unknown.
It has often been speculated that the maypole originally had some importance in
the Germanic paganism of Iron Age and early Medieval cultures, and that the
tradition survived Christianisation, albeit losing any original meaning that it
had; however, more recent scholarship has found that the custom of the maypole
arose in the context of medieval Christian Europe. It has been a recorded
practice in many parts of Europe throughout the Medieval and Early Modern
periods, although it became less popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. Today,
the tradition is still observed in some parts of Europe and among European
communities in the Americas.
Giant
Stride
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| Children enjoying a May Pole Dance, circa 1930s [May Pole, my ass; “Dance" is just as ludicrous.] |
Now, when I was a student at Willis Campbell
Elementary School in Cass City Michigan (late 60s, early 70s), in our
playground—as in many playgrounds around the country—we had, along with the
swings, slides, teeter-totters (or see-saws if you prefer), merry-go-rounds and
monkey bars, a fiendish device called a Giant Stride, which was basically a
high-speed, iron version of its quaint and pastoral cousin. Of course, in our
neck of the woods the name had been corrupted to “The Strikes”. I am quite sure
the name did not take long to devolve, because the object of the exercise was
to use your own body to inflict as much damage upon all the rest as possible,
“striking” them hard enough to make them use their grip and fly off into the
sunset. And while it was possible to do this as a solo act, frequently we
employed the help of a friend in a maneuver most comparable to a Whip in the
Roller Derby world: two would join hands and one would fling the other at
double speed around the pole. The flinger would generally be the smaller of the
two, not being able to generally gather much speed on their own anyway, but
very capable of propelling a lighter flingee. Due to the constant parade of
injuries this attraction provided, the thing was eventually chained up, and I
assume ultimately removed. We are a slow learning group though because it was
in service for many a year before that.
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| Whip It , 2009, with Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore (also her directorial debut) |
Some more Giant Stride photos from years gone by.
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| Another Giant Stride – at a playground in New York City, ca. 1910-1915. Source: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division |
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| Playgrounds, May Day, Glass negative, 1924 May. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington |
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| Giant Stride, The Royal Normal College for the Blind, England [Seriously? As if the game wasn’t sadistic enough on its own, they came up with this variation?] |
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| "Swing" Angas, George French 1822-1886: The New Zealanders Illustrated, 1847. Source: Wikimedia Commons [Is this how swing dancing was invented?] |
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| Playgrounds From the Past (1) |
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| Playgrounds From the Past (2) [Somewhere an insurance company just shit itself a little. I can remember doing this.] |
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| Old playground rocking 'horse' [Sure the other playground equipment might injure you, but these fuckers could kill you: NOTHING says instant death quicker than a spring-loaded, 100 pound piece of cast iron.] |
A short article, “Fun-Filled Danger of the Giant Stride”, is
here:
Maypo
Perhaps it was my earliest known pun. Alas that knowledge is
lost to the mists of history. But for whatever reason, I cannot hear May Pole
without recalling Maypo.
Maypo is a brand of instant maple-flavored oatmeal cereal.
It was originally manufactured by Maltex Co. and is now owned by Homestat Farm,
Ltd. It was best known for its television commercials with the catchphrase,
"I Want My Maypo" by Marky Maypo.
Maypo was developed by the Maltex Corporation in Burlington,
Vermont, a company which had been manufacturing wheat and barley cereal since
1899 under the name Malted Cereals Company. The formula was invented in 1953 by
Herbert A. Bahrenberg.
Shortly after the development of Maypo, Maltex was sold in
1956 and became a division of Heublein. By the mid-1960s its market share had
declined and Maltex was sold to American Home Products. In 2001 Homestat Farm,
Ltd. purchased Maypo.
The original "I Want My Maypo" ad was developed in
1956 by the Fletcher, Richards, Calkins & Holden Advertising Agency. The
animation was created by John Hubley. The commercial, which appealed to
children, increased sales on average 78%, with some markets increasing sales by
186%.
Maypo's later television ads sometimes featured
athletes—including Mickey Mantle, Wilt Chamberlain and Johnny Unitas—crying
"I want my Maypo!"
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| If you think your cereal is expensive now, you ought to see how much vintage cereal memorabilia is going for these days. |
MTV's "I want my MTV!" image and branding campaign
in 1982 was based on the "I want my Maypo!" catchphrase; both were
developed by George Lois.
 |
| "I Want My MTV" (Quick call the Police!) |
In 1985, Dire Straits gave a nod to the concept with Money
For Nothing.
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|
Mark Knopfler
|
The song ran into some controversy years later in Canada due
to a presumed Snowflake Sensitivity issue (snow in Canada?) but that went away.
You can read about it here:
Marky Maypo
As a mascot, Marky Maypo needed to have a toy tie-in. And he got one. Here is the Marky Maypo bank.
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| Is it me, or does he remind you of a pornstar. With clothes. |
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| Here he is in bed... |
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| He's looking for his lost chastity. |
Oh, don't worry, it gets worse.
 | |||||||
| He doesn't look happy about this. |
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| At least he's smiling now. |
 |
Now that that humiliation is over, let's bear in
mind this is a child's bank. Which means that eventually whatever small
change goes into it, must at some point come out. To buy more cereal
related toys. Here's how that happens.
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| Marky has what can only be described as a butt plug. |
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| There's nearly a $20 difference in the two styles. I can only assume it has to do with the comfort level; rubber is softer than hard plastic. I think it's best if we ignore the fact the the rubber one looks like an inverted plunger, because that would no doubt impact the comfort level, if not his bowels. |
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| At least he has a friend to share in his misery. |
Vintage Cereal Tangent
As I was looking for Maypo images, I came across a few other cereals from those bygone days.
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| Dr. Who |
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| Mr. Spock |
So if you mix them together in the same bowl, you get Dr. Spock:
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| (I swear for the life of me, I thought that said "enema" at first.) |
My trip down memory lane nearly complete, Google
had to remind me that the Good Old Days weren't always so good. I didn't
ask for these they just showed up in my search.
 |
| I can actally remember these. |
 |
| Oh, hell no. I thankfully do not remember any such product. In case the shock of the image has prevented you from reading any of the text, there are only two things I want to hightlight. The first is the not so subtle irony that Howdy's Honey, is "U.S. Fancy Extra White". The second is that it was a product from Ithaca Michigan. I know people from there. (You got some 'splainin' to do.) |
Back to reality
This
post is about May Day, remember? I haven't forgotten. As you well know I
get side tracked from time to time. There are still a couple of
observances to cover.
Loyalty Day
Loyalty Day is observed on May 1st in the United
States. It is a day set aside "for the reaffirmation of loyalty to the
United States and for the recognition of the heritage of American
freedom."
The holiday was first observed in 1921, during the First Red
Scare. It was originally called "Americanization Day," and it was
intended to replace the May 1 ("May Day") celebration of the
International Workers' Day, which commemorates the 1886 Haymarket affair in
Chicago.
During the Second Red Scare, it was recognized by the U.S.
Congress on April 27, 1955, and made an official reoccurring holiday on July
18, 1958 (Public Law 85-529). President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed May 1, 1955,
the first observance of Loyalty Day. In 1958, Eisenhower urged Congress to move
Child Health Day to the First Monday in October, to avoid conflicting with
Loyalty Day. Loyalty Day has been recognized with an official proclamation
every year by every president since its inception as a legal holiday in 1958.
Child Health Day
Child Health Day (Pub.L. 105–225, 112 Stat. 1255) is a
United States Federal Observance Day observed on the first Monday in October.
According to 36 U.S.C. § 105, on Child Health Day the
president invites "all agencies and organizations interested in child
welfare to unite on Child Health Day in observing exercises that will make the
people of the United States aware of the fundamental necessity of a year-round
program to protect and develop the health of the children of the United States.
"The holiday was enacted by Congress in 1928, and was first celebrated on
May 1, 1929
In 2017 President Donald Trump proclaimed Child Health Day
to be October 2. [Kinda unnecessary, I guess, since it already was Child Health Day.]
Mayday
 |
| “’Mayday Means Help!’ — a reminder from the June/July 1940 National Radio News. Note the pilot’s microphone, his airplane’s broken wings and propeller, and the sharks circling in the water!” |
Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally
as a distress signal in voice-procedure radio communications.
It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily
by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organizations such as
firefighters, police forces, and transportation organizations also use the
term. The call is always given three times in a row ("Mayday mayday
mayday") to prevent its being mistaken for some similar-sounding phrase
under noisy conditions, and to distinguish an actual mayday call from a message
about a mayday call.
The "mayday" procedure word was originated in
1923, by a senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London. The officer,
Frederick Stanley Mockford, was asked to think of a word that would indicate
distress and would easily be understood by all pilots and ground staff in an
emergency. Since much of the traffic at the time was between Croydon and Le
Bourget Airport in Paris, he proposed the expression "mayday" from
the French m'aider ('help me'), a shortened form of venez m'aider ('come and
help me'). It is unrelated to the holiday May Day.
Before the voice call "mayday", SOS was the Morse
code equivalent of the mayday call. In 1927, the International Radiotelegraph
Convention of Washington adopted the voice call mayday as the radiotelephone
distress call in place of the SOS radiotelegraph (Morse code) call.
Other May Day
remembrances
Bloody May
“On Berlin’s May Day 1929, the latent hostility between
Social Democrats and Communists finally spilled over into bloodshed. A day
meant to demonstrate workers’ unity instead showed tragic divisions in the face
of rising Nazism.” The rest of the article is here:
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| A police cycle patrol guarding one of Berlin's barricaded streets, 1929. Keystone / Getty |
Black Monday happened just under 6 months
later on October 24, 1929, rendering
the whole thing moot. Almost. There was that whole WWII thing that happened
after…
Meanwhile, in Israel, May Day had plenty of ups and downs. Interesting
article that gives a little perspective on the flux of Arab-Israeli relations
over the years:
A quick tour of what’s going on right now all over the world:
There are a couple of marches planned in Seattle:
 |
| Cynthia Ruiz, at center wearing white, and Alissica Cortes, at center wearing black, participate in the 19th annual March for Immigrant and... (Erika Schultz / The Seattle Times) |
And France is trying to keep things peaceful. They’re still
not over the Notre Dame fire, after all.
In pictures: May Day celebrated around the world
The BBC has a bit of their tongue in their cheek with this
article. Four of the twelve pictures have to do with celebrations; the
remaining eight are “celebrations” disguised as rallies, protests, and
conflicts.
On This Day
Lastly, on this day in history. I have left out the lion’s
share, believe me.
Events
1776 Adam Weishaupt
founds secret society of Illuminati
[and the granddaddy of all conspiracy theories was born.]
1786 Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart's opera "Marriage of
Figaro" premieres in Vienna with Mozart himself directing
1884 Construction begins on Chicago's 1st skyscraper (10
stories) [I’m only including this one as a point of comparison to the one after
the next one.]
1930 The planet Pluto
is officially named by 11 year-old Venetia Burney [We all know this did not end
well for Pluto.]
1931 Empire State Building
opens in New York City [Two years later, King Kong falls for a dame.]
1939 Batman first
appears in Detective Comics #27
1941 "Citizen
Kane", directed by Orson Welles
and starring himself, Joseph Cotten and Dorothy Corningore, premieres at the
Palace Theater in New York City
1941 General Mills introduces CheeriOats (renamed Cheerios in 1945) an oat-based,
ready-to-eat cold cereal [Not more cereal...]
1943 Food rationing
begins in the United States during World War II [General Mills couldn’t keep up
with the Cheerio demand.]
1952 Mr Potato Head
introduced
1955 Showgirl Linda
Lawson is crowned "Miss-Cue"
in the Atomic Pageant, after the
Operation Cue test is repeatedly delayed by high winds [What better way to
celebrate the idea we now had the ability to blow up the world?]
 |
| Miss-Cue (Yes, that's a mushroom cloud on her head. We weren't doing Duck and Cover yet.) |
1961 1st US airplane hijacked
to Cuba [This would have been a regular meme back in the day if we only had
memes.]
1961 Fidel Castro
announces there will be no more
elections in Cuba [Kind of a hardball response to the hijacking, don’t you
think?]
1961 Pulitzer prize awarded to Harper Lee for her novel "To
Kill a Mockingbird"
1999 Animated series "SpongeBob SquarePants", created by Stephen Hillenburg, debuts
on Nickelodeon
Birthdays
1852 Calamity Jane
[Martha Jane Canary], American frontierswoman, born in Princeton, Missouri (d.
1903)
1907 Kate Smith,
American singer (God Bless American),
born in Greenville, Virginia (d. 1986)
1913 Louis Nye,
American comedian and actor (Curb Your
Enthusiasm, The Steve Allen Plymouth Show), born in Hartford, Connecticut
(d. 2005) [No relation to Bill Nye the Science Guy.]
1916 Glenn Ford,
Canadian-American actor (Cade's County, Big Heat, Midway), born in
Sainte-Christine-d'Auvergne, Quebec, Canada (d. 2006) [Did you know he was
Canadian?]
1918 Jack Paar,
American television host of the Jack Paar Show (d. 2004), born in Canton, Ohio
1939 Judy Collins,
singer (Send in the Clowns, Clouds),
born in Seattle, Washington [And still killing it.]
1950 Dann Florek,
American actor (Law & Order),
born in Flat Rock, Michigan [Local
boy makes good.]
1954 Ray Parker Jr,
rock guitarist/vocalist (Ghostbusters),
born in Detroit, Michigan
1961 Marilyn Milian,
current judge on The People's Court
[So much hotter than Judge Wapner or Ed Koch.]
Death came calling
for these folks
1471 Thomas a Kempis,
spiritual writer (Navolging of Christ), dies at 91
1539 Isabella of
Portugal, queen of Spain and empress of Germany (b. 1503) [She’s the one who
had a thing for Columbus; weird to think how many of us wouldn’t be here if not
for that.]
1873 David
Livingstone, British physician/explorer (Africa), dies at 60 [You know—I presume—this
guy:
1904 Antonín Dvořák,
Czech composer (Slavic Dancing, New
World Symphony), dies at 62
1945 Joseph Goebbels,
German Nazi Minister of Propaganda, commits suicide aged 47 with his wife (43)
and arranges the death of their 6
children, Heidrun (4), Hedwig (6), Holdine (8), Helmut (9), Hildegard (11),
and Helga (12) [What kind of demon mind becomes a family annihilator after
they’re dead? I don’t think Satan even had a room set up for that kind of
evil.]
1965 Spike Jones
[Lindley Armstrong Jones], American bandleader (Der Fueher's Face, Cocktails For Two), dies from emphysema at 53
[The Weird Al of his day. Sort of.]
1978 Aram
Katchaturian, Russian composer (The Earth), dies at 74 [Did not like the
nickname “Chicken” for some reason.]
1997 Bebe, AKA Flipper,
dolphin, dies at 40
1998 Eldridge Cleaver,
American activist (b. 1935)
2000 Stephen "Steve"
Reeves, American professional bodybuilder, actor, and philanthropist (Hercules, Goliath, Sandokan), dies from
a blood clot at 74 [The definitive Hercules. He just had “The Look”.]
2015 Grace Lee
Whitney, American singer and actress (Yeoman
Rand-Star Trek), dies at 85 [I always wished she had been on the show
longer.]
2017 Stan Weston,
American toy licensing agent, had concept for G.I. Joe, dies at 84
Weddings
1850 Soldier William
Tecumseh Sherman (30) weds Eleanor Boyle Ewing in Washington, D.C.
1881 Physiologist Ivan
Pavlov (32) weds Seraphima Karchevskaya
1954 Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos (36) weds Imelda
Romualdez (24) in a Catholic church [Shoe businesses worldwide nearly collapsed
when she died.]
1967 King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley (32) weds actress Priscilla Beaulieu (21) at Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada [Simply no other venue would do.]
1982 Actress Kate
Jackson (33) weds business executive David Greenwald in Beverly Hills,
California [On this list because she’s Kate.]
1991 Actor Robert
Duvall weds Sharon Brophy
1996 Actress and talk show host Kelly Ripa (26) weds film actor Mark Consuelos (25) in Las Vegas
[Not at all sure why she’s on the list. Especially without Regis.]
1998 "Reality Bites" actor Ethan Hawke (27) weds "Pulp Fiction" actress Uma Thurman (28)
1998 Professional Cyclist [and Drug Cheat] Lance Armstrong weds Kristin Richard
(divorced 2003) [The drug cheat reference does not appear in the text: but
whoever compiled the list added it as part of the image name they used. Too
priceless not to include it here.]
1999 "Dixie
Chicks" singer Emily Erwin
(26) weds singer-songwriter Charlie Robison (34) at Lone Star State in Texas
1999 "As Good As It Gets" actor Greg Kinnear (35) weds British model
Helen Labdon (29)
2010 Actor-producer Seth
Green (36) weds actress Clare Grant (30) at George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch in Nacasio, California [The Nerd
runs deep with this one.]
Divorced
1978 Actress and model Bianca
Jagger files for divorce from Rolling Stone rocker Mick Jagger after 7 years of marriage on the grounds of his
adultery with model Jerry Hall
If you want the comprehensive run down, go here:
Well, there you have it. May Day is quite a day. After this,
I’m gonna need the next three days to recover before Cinco de Mayo.
