May Day is pretty much dead in the USA now

[invisibleflash]

Cinco replaced May Day in the USA. May Day was big in the old days, but pretty much dead now.

Here is a May Day fete from Mount de Chantal girls school in Wheeling WV from 1959 as an example. May Day was celebrated ALL over the USA.

https://archive.org/search.php?query...Chantal%201959

May Day is / was big in USSR, but don't know where it stands now. Do they still have big parades in Russia?



Maypole in Parade So. Bend IN 1915 D.D.Teoli Jr. A.C. (2).jpgMay Day Moscow, Russia 1969 D.D.Teoli Jr. A.C. lr.jpgMay Day Fete wreath dance 1920 D.D.Teoli Jr. A.C. (2).jpg

[happystuff]

I remember in elementary school, they would gather the classes out on the playground and have several May poles set up. We would do the weaving in and out with our strands of... I think crepe paper... turning the pole into a braid of color. And the principal would ALWAYS where a pink suit jacket! Haven't thought of that in decades. Thanks!

[bae]

May Day/Beltane is still a pretty big deal in the islands here.

[Tybee]

We used to make paper baskets with woven strips of paper and fill them with flowers and hang them on doorknobs.

My kids did it too, 30 years ago when they were little.

[iris lilies]

In tiny German heritage Hermann, they have an annual Maypole festival, and also kids know about May baskets.

All of that cancelled this year of course.

[Tradd]

May Day became the Communist Labor Day, I believe.

[Simplemind]

We did the same Tybee. We would fill them with lilacs and hang them on doorknobs.

[Alan]

I think the proximity of Arbor Day, Earth Day and May Day probably has something to do with it's lack of current relevance. Having it associated with communism and just a week or so after celebrating Earth day on Vladimir Lenin's birthday may be a little much for most people.

[jp1]

It's also possible it has something to do with the fact that labor in the US is at a historically weak moment. Union membership lower than any time since there have been unions. And a president and senate majority leader literally pushing for people to be forced to risk their lives to work or face unemployment, with no consequences to their employers, or required regulations on safety from the government. Meat packing plants used to have lots of good union jobs. If they still did we most assuredly would not be seeing a situation where the government is trying to insulate the plants from taking any responsibility for the safety of workers during a pandemic while simultaneously forcing those workers to either go back to their unsafe jobs or become unemployed without access to unemployment insurance.

[ToomuchStuff]

I can't remember ever understanding what culture May Day came from. I remember seeing old reels and Disney type films about it, but the only reference I can remember in the last decade plus, was on a sign outside an exotic dance studio a few years back, when I had to go way out of my normal driving way.