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From: Pat Connors <>
Subject: [NY IRISH] 1st May, May Day-Celtic customs
Date: Thu, 01 May 2003 08:09:36 -0700

from the Chronicles of Celtic Customs by Brian Day

CELTIC. As with so many customs the association of May Day with floral
decorations may have a multiple origins rather than being from just one
easily identifiable source. Hawthorn was sacred to Persephone, goddess
of spring, and its flowering in ancient times signaled the time to start
the Celtic festival of Beltane. The use of greenery in May celebrations
echoes pre-Christian tree and nature worship and the commemoration of
the resurrection of Attis, lover to Kybele, goddess of flowers and
fruitfulness. The crowing of the May Queen (and May King or Green Man)
may possibly be a long surviving relic of the myth of Kybele and Attis.
Another possible origin of the May Queen is the image of Flora the
Roman goddess of spring. However, the election of a May Queen (and
King), the parading and erection of a maypole and the dancing and sports
that followed may owe more to English influence than to indigenous
Celtic commemoration. The Celts saw this day as the climax of the
ritual, annual combat between summer and winter, with the latter giving
way. This may explain the habit of stealing maypoles and other
paraphernalia from one's neighbours, as to steal their maypole was to
steal their luck. This practice is known from the Isle of Man, Wales
and Cornwall.

Prior to the Restoration the advent of the merry month of May was a time
of great celebration to welcome the summer, but as ever the puritans
soon toned things down. Girls rose early to bathe their faces in the
May morning dew, which was held to have curative and beauty properties,
and to grant wishes, and considered it lucky to draw the first water
from the well this morning. People tended to be suspicious of
happenings on May Day, lest they be portents of what the summer had in
store for them, and guarded animals, produce and wells.

This was the start of summer farming jobs. Cattle were turned out to
pasture, and from now on would be milked outside. Sheep were moved to
higher ground and the tilling of the soil started. Labourers would be
hired and land rented or tenants' rents collected. May Day was a Celtic
quarter day.

--
Pat Connors, Sacramento CA
http://www.connorsgenealogy.com
Professional Genealogy Research
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