“As full of spirit as the month of May, and as gorgeous as the sun in Midsummer.”
― William Shakespeare
It’s May. It’s May – the merry month of May. Originating in Ireland this holiday was designed to welcome spring with regalia and fanfare. The April showers have given way to May flowers. We still have a few patches of snow on the ground, but soon we will see the beauty of this next season. The celebration of May Day would often come with bouquets of spring flowers – baskets of them set at a neighbor’s doorstep – a carousel with flowing streamers which allowed for a lovely circle dance. All of these were to welcome this beautiful month.
May 1st is also International Workers Day, which honors all those who struggled and gained through the ever-growing Labor movement. Here in the U.S., we honor our workers in September. Not that one day makes a difference. It seems politics of any sort manages to take advantage of holidays that indulge having a good time.
The origin of celebrating the first day of May, dates back many centuries to the Celts. They believed it was the most important day of the year. It divided the year in half and represented the difference between the darkness of winter evolving into the brightness of spring along with new life and fertility.
When Rome came the British Isles, they brought a celebration known as Floralia – a time to worship the goddess of flowers. So once again, a pagan celebration turned into a time to have fun and frolic. It probably was a good money-maker for the merchants of the day as well. Isn’t it funny that all those pagan holidays turned into times of jollyness?
So, today as I look out my side window, I see my American flag flying recklessly in the northwesterly wind. Trees are swaying with abandon. The sun has melted all the clouds and a brilliant remainder of azure blue is left behind.
HAPPY MAY DAY!
atimetoshare.me 
Our feel-like temp is 30 with periods of snow today.
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There is one of those Celtic holidays in Germany, usually in April. Since for a year and a half, I supervised 200 German civilians, I got their holidays. Two usually came in April, one by the usual calendar in April every year, but the other by the lunar calendar. The pagan lunar holiday was freaky in that every year that I lived in Germany, the sun would shine on that holiday (usually cloudy and gloomy the year round). That prompts Germans to quip that they have four seasons, but summer is only two weeks long, and one of those weeks is in April. In other words, the only time the sun shines.
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This has been a strange May Day for me. I went to the map on my computer, so I could look up the directions to a business. As soon as I entered our home address into Google maps, I saw a picture of our house, with me standing in the front yard. So now I am on Google street view. Very weird.
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Very weird🥹
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