DLTK's Crafts for Kids
May Day Activities
May Day occurs on May 1st and is celebrated in many countries in the northern hemisphere.
May Day marks the end of the cold winter season and the beginning of the farmable year.
May Day celebrations (old and new!) include:
- the modern secular May Day festival celebrated in the Americas and Europe with dancing around the Maypole and the crowning of the Queen of May.
- Walpurgisnacht or Walpurgis Night -- the germanic evening celebration complete with bonfires and dancing -- it continues to be
celebrated in Germany, Finland, Sweden, Czech Republic and Estonia.
- Beltane -- a Gaelic festival that celebrates the arrival of spring with evening bonfires and dancing -- this stopped being celebrated for
many centuries, but has recently been revived and is again being celebrated as part of a gaelic cultural revival(mainly in Scotland).
- the Floralia -- the ancient Roman festival of Flora -- the Roman goddess of flowers and fertility -- no longer commonly celebrated.
- the ancient Greek festival of Chloris -- the Greek goddess of spring, flowers and new growth -- no longer commonly celebrated.
