1st of May - May Day, St Philips Day, St James's Day
1st of May is the 121st day of the year
May Day:
May 1st is a rare thing in our national calendar in that although it is also the feast day of St Philip the apostle and St James the Just May Day, and Roodmas was celebrated then, it was and is celebrated not for any Christian religious association but as a special day in itself, and possibly with real roots in a pagan past. The day was perhaps chosen as marking the start of better weather and fuller bellies, fertility celebrated in the plainly phallic-symbolic Maypole dances (notoriously in medieval days not many of the maidens dancing remained maidens by the end of the day), the gathering of garlands in the woods (again with associated lewdness), choosing of May Queens, Morris Dancing (with suitably smaller symbols), and general revelry. Some intriguing survivals remind us of such festivities – notably the Padstow and Minehead Hobby Horses, and the cheese-rolling at Randwick in Gloucestershire. May Day has taken on political undertones as it is also International Workers’ Day: when the Labour Government in 1978 made it a Bank Holiday there was much controversy, with threats by the Thatcher Government that came to power the following year to move it to October, something that happily never came about.
St Philips Day:
May 1st is the feast day of two of the 12 apostles, James and Philip. Philip was one of the actors in the miracle of the loaves and fishes, which perhaps explains the fact that he is patron saint of pastry chefs, though why he also has that honour as regards hatters is less evident. James is patron to apothecaries and fullers. In this country several churches are dedicated to the pairing, for example in Bath and Alderley Edge. Both men died (separately) as martyrs, though exactly how is unclear as traditions have them either crucified or beheaded.
St James's Day:
May 1st is the feast day of two of the 12 apostles, James and Philip. Philip was one of the actors in the miracle of the loaves and fishes, which perhaps explains the fact that he is patron saint of pastry chefs, though why he also has that honour as regards hatters is less evident. James is patron to apothecaries and fullers. In this country several churches are dedicated to the pairing, for example in Bath and Alderley Edge. Both men died (separately) as martyrs, though exactly how is unclear as traditions have them either crucified or beheaded.
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