In the past, May Day has incarnated as a pagan rites festival, a fertility celebration, a matriarchal holiday, a communist holiday, a nationalist holiday, a socialist holiday, a day of protest for workers, unions, grangers, even mobsters and yet somehow, it remains a muse for romantic poetry and song. For a glimpse into the historical importance of May Day, please feel free to read some of these fascinating finds from the Online Library...
America’s Forgotten Holiday: May Day and Nationalism, 1867-1960 By Donna T. Haverty-Stacke
This book tells the story of America's true birth as a modern nation. Providing documentation of coalitions promoting immigrant's rights, child labour laws, working hour and minimum wage laws with May Day as the ever present performance set, stage and backdrop for marches, ralllies, riots, meetings, parades and eventually parties . May Day was so successful in US history that it is now an all but forgotten holiday.
May-Day, and Other Pieces by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emerson is best known as an outspoken political activist with his work, "Self Reliance" ..but behind that tough independent new American austerior secretly lies a romantic Victorian poet just like any other poet in his day. May Day and his other works in this moving edition focus on nature, emotions and the human experience. Emerson's May Day provides a rewarding reading respite for any students, wishing to easily expand their education.
May Day by F. Scott Fitzgerald (from the “Tales of the Jazz Age”
Following his signature style, Fitzgerald crosses glamour and light heartedness with the sombre striking contrasts of the inequalities in flapper America. The author shares his real life experience as a participant in what starts as the joyful gayety of an innocent Yalie get together only to find their frivolity was happening in part with the violence infused May Day Riots.
THE REAPER AND THE FLOWERS by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow
Bittersweet and full of torment, Longfellow reminds readers not only of the fragility and beauty of life but conveys a deeper universal understanding and celebration of death after life and life after death. If you read one lyric of love in the month of May, let it be this.
*all images created free of copyright by FREEPIK.COM