May Day
The May Day association with labor is all American, and just as controversial as everything of any consequence in history. The day is tied to a strike for the eight-hour day and the so-called “Haymarket Riot” of 1886. When it comes to “riots” and the Chicago police are involved, you are not going to find a single truth.
As May 1st falls at the mid point between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice it marks the beginning of summer for many people and is celebrated by Teutonic cultures [on the eve] as Walpurgisnacht [in German], and among the Gaelic peoples as Beltane.
The real significance was that it is unlikely there was going to be another freeze and it is probably safe to start planting crops, so a fertility festival is in order. This is to ensure a good crop, not to get together and have a good time before getting to the backbreaking work of farming, really.
This is the third anniversary of Mission Accomplished, the Shrubbery’s prance across the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, one of the most expensive photo ops in American political history, and 1687 days since he said that Osama was “Wanted, Dead or Alive”.
This year there is the added feature in the US of the boycott and demonstrations of Hispanic Americans and other immigrants. Unfortunately these people have absorbed enough American culture to understand that nothing is going to be done because it’s the right thing to do. You have to hit people in their wallet, or you’ll be ignored. Reality makes that Koolaid bitter.
Update: It’s also the 75th birthday of the Empire State Building and, via Auntie Roo at Blonde Sense, Loyalty Day.
Update 2: and Law Day? Come on, people, this is piling on. There are 364 other days available.
