Today is historically observed as May Day in Europe to celebrate the beginning of summer, smack dab in the middle of the spring equinox and the summer solstice, first seen as the festival of Flora Ancient Rome. Gather ye wildflowers and branches and floral garlands—and crown thy May Queen—all rites that, in some form or another, unite everyone from the Iberian Catalans to the Gaelic Welsh. You might have also heard of the pagan maypole, sometimes adapted as part of the Christian Pentecost or Whitsun celebrations, around which people dance, and maypoles remain perhaps the most symbolic element of the May Day celebrations. The festivities begin in earnest on April 30 with drinking and bonfires (an evening that goes by many names including Walpurgis Night in Sweden) and in modern times, some nations have swapped the maypole dance for a more sober observance of International Workers Day. Pictured: A detail of “St. George's Kermis with the Dance around the Maypole,” painted by Pieter Brueghel the Younger in 1627, depicting raucous, drunken revelry around the maypole on May Day, probably 1626. A kermis is a fair. Public domain.
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