Peter Linebaugh: The incomplete, true, authentic and wonderful history of May Day
Once upon a time, long before Weinberger bombed north Africans, before the Bank
of Boston laundered money, or Reagan honored the Nazi war dead, the earth was
blanketed by a broad mantle of forests. As late as Caesar's time a person might
travel through the woods for two months without gaining an unobstructed view of
the sky. The immense forests of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America provided the
atmosphere with oxygen and the earth with nutrients. Within the woodland
ecology our ancestors did not have to work the graveyard shift, or to deal with
flextime, or work from Nine to Five. Indeed, the native Americans whom Captain
John Smith encountered in 1606 only worked four hours a week. The origin of May
Day is to be found in the Woodland Epoch of History.
In Europe, as in
Africa, people honored the woods in many ways. With the leafing of the trees in
spring, people celebrated "the fructifying spirit of vegetation," to
use the phrase of J.G. Frazer, the anthropologist. They did this in May, a
month named after Maia, the mother of all the gods according to the ancient
Greeks, giving birth even to Zeus.
The Greeks had their
sacred groves, the Druids their oak worship, the Romans their games in honor of
Floralia. In Scotland the herdsman formed circles and danced around fires. The
Celts lit bonfires in hilltops to honor their god, Beltane. In the Tyrol people
let their dogs bark and made music with pots and pans. In Scandinavia fires
were lit and the witches came out. Everywhere people
"went a-Maying" by going into the woods and bringing back leaf,
bough, and blossom to decorate their persons, homes, and loved ones with green
garlands. Outside theater was performed with characters like
"Jack-in-the-Green" and the "Queen of the May." Trees were
planted. Maypoles were erected. Dances were danced. Music was played. Drinks were
drunk, and love was made. Winter was over, spring had sprung.
The history of these
customs is complex and affords the student of the past with many interesting
insights into the history of religion, gender, reproduction, and village
ecology. Take Joan of Arc who was burned in May 1431. Her inquisitors believed
she was a witch.... read more:
https://libcom.org/history/incomplete-true-authentic-wonderful-history-may-day-peter-linebaugh
