Is it May already? Yes it really is, and you will know this because every announcer on TV will say it all day long. “Is it really May already?” Whatever the first of May means to you, it’s not what it was originally designed to celebrate. Like so many holidays it has both a happy and a distressing origin.
Thousands of years ago in Roman times, they celebrated it as “Floralia, the festival of Flora,” a day of festivities, food and of course a sacrifice to Flora. Over the years the debauchery of this May celebration would be banned, rise up again and get banned again. The Catholic Church tried to redeem its reputation by making it a tribute to the Virgin Mary, but now in the modern era, it is simply a day to celebrate the beginning of Spring — you know, maypoles and that stuff — halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice.
Actually, May Day is a very important day to celebrate labor and the hard work of all those who help improve our lives every day. May Day is synonymous with International Workers’ Day, and was named to commemorate a general strike in 1886. It is a public national holiday in many countries. In Egypt it’s a paid holiday. It’s a public holiday in Algeria, Ethiopia, South Africa, Morocco, Argentina and Costa Rica and many other countries.
The U.S. celebrates American labor on the first Monday of September. Almost all employers give employees the day off, but not all are paid . So, today while we dance around the maypole, it would be good to recognize all those workers around you and let them know you appreciate them. The person who serves you in a restaurant, who takes the garbage away, who takes care of your kids or grandparents — all these folks are workers whose effort is essential to our lives. We don’t always thank workers for the work they do. Spend the day thanking everyone you come in contact with for all they do. It’s a simple and easy thing to do. Should be done every day anyway.