MAY

This article appears in Volume V17, Page 931 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MAR-MEC

MAY , the fifth month of our modern year, the third of the old Roman calendar. The origin of the name is disputed; the derivation from Maia, the mother of Mercury, to whom the Romans were accustomed to sacrifice on the first day of this month, is usually accepted. The ancient Romans used on May Day to go in procession to the grotto of Egeria. From the 28th of April to the 2nd of May was kept the festival in honour of Flora, goddess of

flowers

FLOWERS, ARTIFICIAL

. By the Romans the month was regarded as unlucky for marriages, owing to the celebration on the 9th, nth and 13th of the Lemuria, the festival of the unhappy dead. This superstition has survived to the present day.
In medieval and Tudor England, May Day was a great public holiday. All classes of the people, young and old alike, were up with the dawn, and went "a-Maying" in the woods. Branches of trees and

flowers

FLOWERS, ARTIFICIAL

were borne back in

triumph

TRIUMPH (triumphus)

to the towns and villages, the centre of the procession being occupied by those who shouldered the maypole, glorious with ribbons and wreaths. The maypole was usually of birch, and set up for the day only; but in London and the larger towns the poles were of durable wood and permanently erected. They were

special

SPECIAL

eyesores to the Puritans. John Stubbes in his Anatomy of Abuses (1583) speaks of them as those " stinckyng idols," about which the people " leape and daunce, as the heathen did." Maypoles were forbidden by the parliament in 1644, but came once more into favour at the Restoration; the last to be erected in London being that set up in 1661. This pole, which was of

cedar

CEDAR (Lat. cedrus, Gr. iapos)

, 134 ft. high, was set up by twelve British sailors under the personal supervision of James II., then duke of

York

and lord high admiral, in the Strand on or about the site of the present church of St Mary's-in-the-Strand. Taken down in 1717, it was conveyed to

Wanstead

WANSTEAD

Park in Essex, where it was fixed by Sir Isaac Newton as part of the support of a large telescope, presented to the Royal Society by a French astronomer.
For an account of the May Day survivals in rural England see P. H. Ditchfield, Old English Customs extant at Present Times (1897).

End of Article: MAY

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/MAR_MEC/MAY.html">
MAY
</a>

(Previous)
MAXWELLTOWN

(Next)
MAY, ISLE OF

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email

Sponsored Advertisements

Online First Aid and CPR Certification . DHA Solutions . PB Happy Hour Specials . Improvising Made Easy For Guitar and Bass . The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained . Home Equity Loans . First Aid and CPR Online . San Diego Music Lessons . 10,000 Wise Quotes and Spiritual Sayings . Blow Up Your Site (For Free!) . San Diego DUI Lawyers . Jason Gastrich . Jordan Faith Gastrich . Divorce Secrets Revealed . Post Your Ad Link Free . San Diego Soccer Training . JCSM . Download Sermons . Custom Religious Banners, Build A Sign . Christian Singles Dating . Christian T-Shirts . Healing Christian Prayer . Bumper Authority . Personalized Blogs and Email . San Diego Haircuts . The Do the Math Diet . Stop Twitter Spam . Christian Conservative Work at Home Network . The Website of the Lord