The Incomplete, True, Authentic and Wonderful History of MAY DAY

AN ENDING

Where is the Red and Green today? Is it in Mao's Red Book? or in Col. Khadafy's Green Book? Some perhaps. Leigh Hunt, the English essayist of the 19th century, wrote that May Day is "the union of the two best things in the world, the love of nature, and the love of each other." Certainly, such green union is possible, because we all can imagine it, and we know that what is real now was once only imagined. Just as certainly, that union can be realized only by red struggle, because there is no gain without pain, as the aerobiticians say, or no dreams without responsibility, no birth without labor, no green without red.

The children used to celebrate May Day. I think schools stopped encouraging them sometime around when "Law Day" was created, but I'm not sure. A correspondent from East Arlington, Mass., writes that in the late 1940s, "On any given Saturday in May, anywhere from 10-30 children would dress up in crepe paper costumes (hats, shirts, &c.); we would pick baskets of flowers and parade up and down several streets (until the flowers ran out!) The whole time we would be chanting, 'May Party, May Party, rah, rah, rah!'. A leader would be chosen, but I don't remember how. (Probably by throwing fingers out). Then, we would parade up to Spy Pond at the edge of the Center off Lake Street and have a picnic lunch." This correspondent now teaches kindergarten. "In recent years," she continues, "I have always decorated a May Pole for my kindergarten class (they do the decorations actually), and we would dance around it. It would always attract attention from the older children."

dancing goat encircled by First of may outdoor[ing] begins today hooray, hooray

RESEARCH

The best way to learn more is to participate in May Day activities and to talk to your neighbours. Using your library's newspaper collection, talking to school teachers, and getting people to talk about their childhood, their strikes, and their working conditions are good ways too. For those who wish to read more, here are a few suggestions.

William Adelman, HAYMARKET REVISITED (Illinois Labor History Society, 1976);
Charles Francis Adams, THREE EPISODES IN MASSACHUSETTS HISTORY (1894);
William Bradford, HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH PLANTATION 1620-1647;
Jeremy Brecher, Strike! (1972);
R. Chambers, THE BOOK OF DAYS: A MISCELLANY OF POPULAR ANTIQUITIES (1864);
Henry David, THE HISTORY OF THE HAYMARKET AFFAIR (1936);
J.G. Frazer, THE GOLDEN BOUGH: A STUDY OF COMPARATIVE RELIGION (1890);
James R. Green and Hugh Donahue, BOSTON'S WORKERS: A LABOR HISTORY (The Public Library, 1979);
Jane Hatch, THE AMERICAN BOOK OF DAYS (1976);
William Hone, THE EVERY-DAY BOOK (1824);
Thomas Morton, THE NEW ENGLISH CANAAN (1637);
Edward Thompson, THE MAKING OF THE ENGLISH WORKING CLASS (1963);
Aleander Trachtenberg, THE HISTORY OF MAY DAY (1947);
Midnight Notes, THE WORK/ENERGY CRISIS AND THE APOCALYPSE (1981).

Author's Note (next page)

The Green | The Red

Author's Note | An Ending



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