Language desk
< May 18	<< Apr \| May \| Jun >>	May 20 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

May 19

May Day terms without the connotation to Labour Day

In multiple languages, I am composing a list of terms and names that refer to May Day exclusively in the meaning of the pagan celebration that heralds the coming of the summer season, or any equivalent springtime cultural festivities, without any sense, connotation, or adopted meaning towards International Workers Day, Labour Day, or anything to do with social justice, "progressiveness", or political matters that seems to pervasively bleed into anything these days. I'd like to avoid or otherwise note if a term is more-or-less synonymous with Walpurgisnacht, because I generally recognise May Day and Walpurgisnacht as two separate events.

For example, many German terms such as Erster Mai and Maifeiertag have mostly kept their connection to the meaning of the pagan summer celebration until the last couple decades, where that meaning had since been degraded and overwhelmingly replaced with Labour Day by the millennial generation.

The list I've compiled so far:

Maitag (German; same problem as Erster Mai and Maifeiertag)
Tanz in den Mai (German; more of a phrase "Dance into the May" than a term)
Hexennacht (German "Witches night"; another term for Walpurgisnacht)
Heksennacht (Dutch "Witches night"; another term for Walpurgisnacht)
Meierblis (Dutch "May blaze")
Valborgsmässoafton (Swedish name for Walpurgisnacht; May Day festivities have apparently all moved to the last day of April to make room for Labour Day)
Valpurgijos naktis (Lithuanian name for Walpurgisnacht)
Flōrālia, Maiouma, Kalendae Maiae (Latin; Floralia and Maiouma celebrated different deities but took place at around the same time)
Calende di maggio (Italian)
Albero della Cuccagna (Sicily; commemorates a battle but supposedly predates said battle)
Os Maios/Dia de Maio (Portuguese and Galican; to differentiate from Dia do Trabalhador)
Los Mayos/Festividad de los Mayos (Spanish)
Πρωτομαγιά (Protomagiá, Greek; to my understanding the meaning and customs have since been lost due to Christianity and urbanisation)
Pálení čarodějnic (Czech "Witches' burning"; is considered an occasion of romance)
Arminden (Romanian)
Jeremiinŭ dĭnĭ (Slavic "Jeremiah's day")
Vappu/Vappen (Finnish)
Kevadpüha, Volbriöö (Estonian)
Bealtaine/Bealltainn (Irish and Scottish Gaelic)
Cétshamhain (Celtic and Gaelic)
Calan Haf/Calan Mai (Welsh)

I would appreciate any help or suggestions to add to my list. --72.234.12.37 (talk) 13:31, 19 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Just a comment about Swedish Valborgsmässoafton: The saint's day is 1 May, but traditionally the liturgical day starts at sunset, so the feast day starts with vesper (evensong) in the evening (cf. also Christmas Eve). Evening is also the natural time for lighting fires, which was probably a Pre-Christian tradition that was adopted and connected to the feast day. The celebration has thus not been moved from 1 May, but has always been in the Eve. --T*U (talk) 14:08, 19 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The thing is that, at least in some countries (particularly the Nordic countries), the festivities around 1 May are really an amalgamation of two completely different things: A pre-Christian pagan festival of warding off evil spirits (Walpurgis Night) and a contemporary demonstration of workers' rights (May Day). Because the two events are on consecutive days (if not even on the same day), they get muddled up in people's minds, as in practice they fuse into one big celebration. JIP | Talk 16:16, 19 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I am not at all sure that is right. The background, history and also the character of the two events are so different that most people will be well aware of the differences. Also, the relative importance of the two will vary considerably with factors like geography, degree of urbanisation, education and social standing. Furthermore, in the Nordic countries the celebration of Walpurgis Eve is almost entirely restricted to Sweden and Finland. In Denmark, Norway and Iceland Valborg is not important at all. In Denmark and Norway the bonfire night is at St John, also in the Eve (23 June). --T*U (talk) 18:07, 19 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The notion of the beginning of May being a way to honor workers came about as a commemoration of the Haymarket affair. Ironically, though the event happened in Chicago, the U.S. chose to itself make its commemoration in early September rather than early May. There are a lot of historical and philosophical reasons why the U.S. government did this that are outside of the scope of this discussion, but the reason why worker's rights are celebrated in early May has to do with the Haymarket riots, and not because of any connection to the spring festival. --Jayron 32 16:41, 19 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I know the reason workers' rights are celebrated in early May is not related to the spring festival. That was the point of my comment. However, there are quite many people in Finland who think "Vappu" and "May Day" mean the same thing just because they are celebrated together, when in reality "Vappu" is an ancient pagan spring festival. If May Day was all there was to the celebrations we'd all be marching on Aleksanterinkatu chanting slogans instead of dressing up in silly costumes, throwing around colourful decorations and boozing our brains out. JIP | Talk 17:16, 19 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It seems to me that this is an odd way of putting it, given that the name "May Day" is the traditional name for the first of May and predates the political observances by centuries. Maybe look for a different name for the political observance? --Trovatore (talk) 17:34, 19 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@JIP: on a similar note, it's also odd that you refer to Walpurgis Night / Vappu as a "pre-Christian" celebration, given that it's named after a Christian saint. No doubt it co-opted elements of earlier pagan observances, much as Christmas co-opted Yule and so on and so on, but that is not exactly the same thing. In any case, as Jayron says, the term "May Day" in English almost always means a simple celebration of spring, with no particular religious, supernatural, or political significance. "Now is the month of Maying, when merry lads are playing!" --Trovatore (talk) 21:01, 19 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

My reply was a bit confusing. I meant that the celebration itself has roots in pre-Christian paganism, not that the term "Walpurgis Night" has. Here in Finland, Vappu / Walpurgis night has hardly any connections to paganism and even less to the Christian saint left. Very few people in Finland even know who Walpurgis was. Nowadays the entire two-day event, lasting from the evening of April 30 (it's a normal working day unless it falls on the weekend) to the afternoon/evening on May 1 is just one big celebration, wilder on April 30 and quieter and more traditional on May 1. JIP | Talk 21:06, 19 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict)The deal is that, in English, the term "May Day" predates the labor movement. This is clearly noted at May Day. In the U.S., U.K., and other English speaking countries, International Worker's Day is not officially celebrated, nor is it known as "May Day", which almost universally refers to the spring festival. The UK has a bank holiday on May 1, but I don't know of or have any reason to believe this was to commemorate the Labour movement in any way. Insofar as it is known as "May Day", it is only explicitly in the context of socialist or communist organisations in such places where "May Day" has such connotations. There's an awareness of it, but it is not the commonly understood meaning of the term. --Jayron 32 17:43, 19 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The Early May Bank Holiday in the UK (which is on the first Monday in May, not May Day itself) was introduced in 1978 by the Labour government of James Callaghan. Everybody knew it was about Labour Day, but ministers took great care not to admit it, as this exchange in the Lords illustrates:

Viscount Davidson (Conservative): "Would he not agree that, since 1st May is Labour Day, it is possibly not the right day for a public holiday, and to the general public it seems that this Government have tried to impose their political ideology in this manner, which is not a good thing?"

Lord Wallace of Coslany (Labour): "My Lords, with due respect to the noble Viscount, that is really going too far. In point of fact, many countries have celebrated May Day for some considerable time. The United States, which I understand is not Communist, of course instituted Labour Day many years ago. In addition the Christian Church, above all people, have for many centuries celebrated the 1st May as the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker; so we are in very respectable company". [1] Alansplodge (talk) 22:38, 19 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I second the notion that the term "May Day" predates the workers' rights protests only in the English-speaking world. Here in the Nordic countries, the April-to-May switch celebrations used to be, and still are, only named after Saint Walpurgis. No one ever refers to them as "May something" or "Labour something". They used to be first a pagan, and then a Christian, tradition until the workers' rights movement came along. JIP | Talk 02:19, 20 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm, that may be. I have to say I was not previously aware of that, if so. I'm curious, when you talk about "May Day" in the non-English-speaking world, do you mean the literal English words "May Day", or is it some sort of translation or calque into the relevant language?

In any case, "May Day" has a very different resonance in English from "Walpurgis Night", which I mainly have heard of from in relation to Night on Bald Mountain, with a dark, foreboding air. Our article about Walpurgis Night mentions seeking protection against rabies, pest (plague), whooping cough, and witches.

"May Day" couldn't be more different. It's about pure (or impure, depending on your viewpoint) youthful bawdy joy. There's not a whiff of disease, witches — or politics. --Trovatore (talk) 07:04, 20 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The use of the term "May Day" for the Workers' Day celebration may just be based on a miscomprehension by non-native English users like me. Looking at the interlingua-links from the page May Day, we find articles about pre-Workers' Day concepts like de:Brauchtum im Mai, es:Festividad de los Mayos, it:Calendimaggio, el:Πρωτομαγιά. The article International Workers' Day, on the other hand, links to articles like de:Erster Mai, nn:Første mai and el:Εργατική Πρωτομαγιά (Workers' 1 May). One of the countries where these two celebrations would be likely to get muddled together, would be Sweden, where both celebrations are very much alive. However, I cannot think that any of my many Swedish friends would ever wave a red flag on the evening of Valborg or would ever light a bonfire (or sing patriotic songs) on 1 May, even if many of them would partake in both celebrations. --T*U (talk) 11:36, 20 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

There is no such thing as a name "May Day" in Finnish or Swedish. As I said above, no one ever calls the celebrations "May something" or "Labour something". Both celebrations, the pagan-and-Christian festival and the workers' rights protest, are named after Saint Walpurgis. The difference is that April 30 is called "Vappuaatto" (Walpurgis Eve) and May 1 is called "Vappu" or "Vapunpäivä" (Walpurgis Day). We Finns know what we call Vappu and celebrate on May 1 is based on a workers' rights protest but usually, the tradition on May 1 is just to go on a picnic, drinking sima and sparkling wine and eating food and snacks. JIP | Talk 09:27, 20 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

May Day celebrations (in the "spring festival" sense) center around the maypole. They go back centuries. --Jayron 32 11:26, 20 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

True, but in Sweden the maypole ('majstång') is raised at the midsummer festival around 21 June, and it is more usually called a midsummer pole ('midsommarstång'). According to the current 'semi-official' Swedish ethymology, the 'maj-' part of the word 'majstång' is not directly derived from the name of the month, but comes from the verb 'att maja', which could be translated as 'to decorate with greenery' (which in turn would obviously come from the name of the month). But in most parts of Sweden, it would be difficult to decorate with green leaves in the beginning of May. So in Sweden, the maypole of May Day has been moved to midsummer, and in Denmark and Norway, the bonfires of Valborg have been moved to midsummer (or St John). In both cases, much more suited to the Scandinavian climate. The wonderful flexibility of human customs! --T*U (talk) 11:57, 20 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Point of order: Meierblis (Dutch "May blaze") is incorrect. I checked on this as I (who grew up in the Netherlands) did not recognise it. As the Dutch article states, is is a word in the dialect of the island of Texel, which is a variant of West-Frisian. This is a completely separate language from Dutch. Fgf10 (talk) 16:58, 19 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

You're confusing the West Frisian language, the westernmost of the Frisian languages, spoken in the province of Friesland, with West Frisian Dutch, a dialect grouping from the West Friesland region of North Holland province. The Texel dialect Tessels is a rather divergent variant of the latter. 110.174.110.213 (talk) 05:13, 21 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

72.234.12.37 -- The third item from the bottom of your list is usually spelled Beltane in English (though only a minority of people would be familiar with it). AnonMoos (talk) 17:49, 19 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

As for the Greek πρωτομαγιά, the only remaining custom of the spring celebration seems to be the making of flower wreaths (or the urban version: buying them from a flower shop) to decorate the entrance door of your house, a balcony or even the front of your car. I suspect urbanisation has more to do with the decline than Christianity. In general, Christianity did not really remove most of the pagan customs. Many of them were just reinterpreted and adjusted to fit in. --T*U (talk) 19:21, 19 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

A further reply: Vappu / Vappen (Finnish): You have to take into account Finland is a bilingual country, where 94% of the people speak Finnish and 6% speak Swedish. "Vappu" is Finnish and "Vappen" is Finland-Swedish, which is a variety of Swedish and has little-to-none to do with Finnish. I think you meant "Finland" more than "Finnish". Although the Finnish and Swedish cultures are closely related, the languages are very different. Finnish is not even an Indo-European language. There are precious few non-Indo-European languages in Europe. Some other examples are Estonian, Hungarian, Sámi and Basque. JIP | Talk 02:59, 20 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Another one for your list: "The month of May (Latin Maius) was supposedly named for Maia" and "On the first day of May, the Lares Praestites were honored as protectors of the city." From Maia#Roman_Maia 41.165.67.114 (talk) 06:41, 20 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

In France before the advent of Labour Day, 1 May was La Fete du Muguet. The tradition (still practiced) of presenting a sprig or a whole plant of lilly of the valley to female friends and relatives, is said to have originated on 1 May 1561, when a lily flower was given to King Charles IX of France. [2] Alansplodge (talk) 10:54, 20 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Spanish Wikipedia has es:Maya_(folclore_de_España) (associated to enwiki May Queen), es:Festividad de los Mayos, es:Fiesta del Mayo Manchego, es:Fiesta de la Maya (Colmenar Viejo), es:Las Mayas.

There is also the Fiesta de las Cruces two days later. Some see the crosses as a Christianization of the maypole.

--Error (talk) 01:22, 21 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]