Wednesday, May 1, 2013

MAY DAY






Image: i206.photobucket.com/ albums/bb160/dymphnasis/



Today is the first of May. It summons visions of Soviet military parades in Red Square. In the 1960's it was labeled "Law Day" in the United States... to compete, I suppose, with our ideological adversary. I haven't heard anything about "Law Day" in years, but it may still be on the books. (I checked. It still is.) Traditionally in Europe this is workers' "Labour Day." Dennis -- with his perverse rub-it-in-your-face-liberalism -- used to fly a red flag today as a show of solidarity with workers of world. Then of course, May Day means dancing round the May pole.


As an aside: the international call for help is "MAYDAY." Somewhere in my past, somebody told me that it was literally old French for "aidez-moi" or help me -- "M'aidez." But French friends and other knowledgeable people question that view. I suppose I could query Wikipedia. I seem to do that a lot anyway. (Yes, there is a French connection... and it makes sense.)


1 comment:

Nikola said...

Hey! I'm from Europe, and yeah, I guess today is something that in America would be called Labor Day. Traditionally, people do not work today and just go for picnics, fun times! :)

And you got yourself a follower! Oh, and I'm looking for people to exchange links with (blogrolls), and would very much like to do that with you! If you're interested, leave me a comment or email me! :)


Titian in the Frari (Venezia)