| . Religion
& Spirit
The Season .. May
Day MOTHER of Hermes! and still youthful Maia!
May I sing to thee
As thou wast hymnèd on the shores of Baiæ?
Or may I woo thee
In earlier Sicilian? or thy smiles
Seek as they once were sought, in Grecian isles,
By bards who died content on pleasant sward,
Leaving great verse unto a little clan?
O give me their old vigour! and unheard
Save of the quiet primrose, and the span
Of heaven, and few ears,
Rounded by thee, my song should die away
Content as theirs,
Rich in the simple worship of a day. | "Fragment
of an Ode to Maia"
(Written on May-Day, 1818
John Keats |
For
centuries, May Day had been a festival celebrating the blossoming of
spring flowers and the summer to come. ... There
is some speculation that the celebration stems from Floralia, the Roman
ritual honoring Flora, the goddess of flowers & springtime.
Others hold that the celebration actually has its roots in the Celtic
festival known as Beltane, when bonfires were lit to celebrate the first
turning out of the herds to pasture. Among the more
well-known rituals associated with May Day is the dance around the May
Pole. Originally, a tree was taken from the woods nearby, usually
the night before, and placed in the middle of the village green, where it
would be adorned with rope garlands of spring flowers. Villagers,
especially young children, would then dance about the May Pole, holding
the ends of the rope garlands. According to at least
one source, under Roundhead influence May Day celebrations in England were
banned by an act of Parliament that came to be known as "Against
May." The celebrations were again allowed later under Charles
II. Considerably later, with Harold Wilson as PM, May Day was
officially declared a bank holiday in Britain, though even by then, it met
with strong opposition by some who held the holiday to be too closely
associated with communist and socialist themes. The
socialist association with May Day came from the First Internationale in
1889. ... Several years before, on May 1, 1886, a
Knights of Labour demonstration in Chicago was assaulted by the Chicago
police, rsulting in the deaths of six. The next day saw the now
famous demonstration in Haymarket Square, where a bomb exploded, killing
more. The police then arrested eight anarchist trade
unionists. Eventually, four -- Albert Parsons, August Spies, George
Engle, and Adolph Fischer -- were all found guilty and executed by the
State of Illinois. In Paris in 1889, the
International Working Men's Association (the First Internationale)
declared May 1st an international working-class holiday in commemoration
of the Haymarket Martyrs. The socialist May Day celebration has now
become a widespread celebration of Labor Day in many countries throughout
Europe and elsewhere. In addition, the Catholic Feast of St. Joseph
the Worker is also celebrated on May 1st. Enjoy.
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.  | "No
Matter"
Electric Zen Studies
Shamms Mortier, Bristol
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above for larger image |
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