So today I said:
"Hey, kids - do you know what today is?"
They said: "What?"
I said: "May Day!"
They said: "What's May Day?"
I said: "Uhhhh..."
After a quick jaunt over to wikipedia, I finally learned that May Day actually has a connection with Halloween...
May Day is associated with the Celtic festival of Beltane and the Germanic festival of Walpurgis Night. May Day falls exactly half of a year from November 1, another cross-quarter day which is also associated with various northern European pagan and neopagan festivals such as Samhain. May Day marks the end of the uncomfortable winter half of the year in the Northern hemisphere, and it has traditionally been an occasion for popular and often raucous celebrations, regardless of the locally prevalent political or religious establishment.
May Day has been celebrated in Ireland since pagan times as the feast of Beltane and in latter times as Mary's day, bonfires are lit to mark the coming of summer and to banish the long nights of winter.
It's also my dad's birthday - Happy Birthday, Pop!
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