Very interesting, but I disagree with your statement that it has been many thousands of years since animals were sent to summer pastures in the UK. In Devon, until fairly recently, it was the custom for farmers to own land both in the lowlands of the South Hams and on upland Dartmoor, the latter being used by the same farmer for the summer grazing of his livestock. There are wide North-South droving routes throughout the South Hams for this purpose, whereas East - West roads are fewer and narrower. May Day is still observed enthusiastically in this area, however.
That is very interesting indeed and I am fascinated that such an ancient way of animal husbandry should linger on like that in part of England. Thanks for telling us about this.
...and more recently May Day has been taken over by the 'International Workers', much beloved by marxist and left-wing types to pay homage to their favourite dictators...😅
All traditional Christian yearly festivals are imposed over Pagan ones, with a slight change of name or emphasis to hide their origins. Even Easter, the major liturgical festival of the Christian Year, is named after Eostre, the Pagan goddess. The effect of Paganism on the traditions and culture of the British Isles (and Europe generally) is much maligned, devalued and censored. Despite the oldest war in existence (the ideological war between Christianity and any dissenters - particularly Pagan ones which predated the inauguration of monotheism ), the masses are even today, are still essentially superstitous. The early Church missionaries realised that it was impossible for them to 'convert' Pagans into Christians by head on conflict as they were too numerous. After all the Christians were a very small minority at the time. Early Christians inveigled their way into the status quo by not only adopting Pagan festivals and ceremonies but also their gods. St Bridgit is the classic example of this and Magdalene Cults can be directly linked to the worship of the Pagan Mother Goddess. Thus, until the Christian church became politically powerful and could extirpate its enemies, the early Christians worked with and worshipped with existing Pagans, first in their sacred groves and shared other sacred hilltops and were even allowed to build their first Christian temples upon Pagan sites. Pagans were, it turned out, far too trusting but the hybrid nature of these temples can be seen from the so-called 'Devil Doors' to the left of the Altar in ancient churches and small niches near them which originally contained statuettes or symbols or relics of Pagan Gods and through which Pagan parades would snake. As time went on and Christianity became stronger these Devil Doors got smaller until Pagans had to bow in order to enter!
The May Day festival had a lot to do with husbandry as you say, Simon, but mainly linked to the breeding season of animals. As the animals were put to mate during this period so were humans themselves and the real reason for the Churches' objection to Maypole dancing can now be seen. It was a form of baptising the child into Paganism as it was being conceived. Something which the Christians could not intercept with their rites, hence the Maypole and Beltaine had to be banned in the hope of capturing the soul of the child into Christianity after it was born, during baptism.
There was of course nothing evil going on in Pagan festivals, most folk quite enjoyed them (as they do today, witness the fun at Halloween - the ancient Celtic Pagan festival of Samhain ). The greater mass of the people looked forward to them, it was all natural, ribald, rustic fun, but of course Church propaganda and their puritanical views on sex (designed to instil guilt and shame - better to control their minds) has since made most folk today think that ordinary Peasant traditions which were natural and observed for hundreds of thousands of years were actually dastardly Witchcraft, which of course is an absolute lie.
Our Old Gods were thus turned into the New Devils.
Makes you fink donnit?
The modern popularisation of the May Day holiday has more to do with the development of Socialism and the cultural impositions of Neo-Marxism upon our society. Blair reinforced the May-Day holiday during his reign to pacify red-flag wavers. As wikipedia's entry states:
"For the last 125 years, May Day has been appropriated by trade union and Socialist movements as a day commemorating the accomplishments of workers. It was adopted at the First Congress of the Second International (a coalition of international Socialist and workers movements) in 1889 to mark Chicago's Haymarket protests of May 1886. During the Haymarket protests, workers successfully demonstrated in favor of an eight-hour day, but during the skirmishes that broke out between police and protesters, eleven people were killed. After the Second International's Congress, May Day became a worldwide celebration of the international labor movement and was celebrated as much by workers marching in the colors of their trade unions as it was by neo-Pagan rituals.
Nowhere, however, was May Day celebrated with more fervor than in the USSR and its client states. As elsewhere, it was a public holiday with demonstrations of worker solidarity, but with the onset of the Cold War it increasingly became a propaganda show for Soviet technological achievements and military might. In Red Square, troops paraded their latest military hardware in front of huge, stage-managed crowds. Presidents of friendly regimes were invited to inspect the parades and, under effigies of Socialist heroes such as Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx, synchronized demonstrations of dance, music, and flag waving took place. These May Day parades and demonstrations were one of the few occasions when the West was allowed a peek behind the Iron Curtain and the displays were designed to inspire either admiration or fear."
Very interesting, but I disagree with your statement that it has been many thousands of years since animals were sent to summer pastures in the UK. In Devon, until fairly recently, it was the custom for farmers to own land both in the lowlands of the South Hams and on upland Dartmoor, the latter being used by the same farmer for the summer grazing of his livestock. There are wide North-South droving routes throughout the South Hams for this purpose, whereas East - West roads are fewer and narrower. May Day is still observed enthusiastically in this area, however.
That is very interesting indeed and I am fascinated that such an ancient way of animal husbandry should linger on like that in part of England. Thanks for telling us about this.
...and more recently May Day has been taken over by the 'International Workers', much beloved by marxist and left-wing types to pay homage to their favourite dictators...😅
Very true!
All traditional Christian yearly festivals are imposed over Pagan ones, with a slight change of name or emphasis to hide their origins. Even Easter, the major liturgical festival of the Christian Year, is named after Eostre, the Pagan goddess. The effect of Paganism on the traditions and culture of the British Isles (and Europe generally) is much maligned, devalued and censored. Despite the oldest war in existence (the ideological war between Christianity and any dissenters - particularly Pagan ones which predated the inauguration of monotheism ), the masses are even today, are still essentially superstitous. The early Church missionaries realised that it was impossible for them to 'convert' Pagans into Christians by head on conflict as they were too numerous. After all the Christians were a very small minority at the time. Early Christians inveigled their way into the status quo by not only adopting Pagan festivals and ceremonies but also their gods. St Bridgit is the classic example of this and Magdalene Cults can be directly linked to the worship of the Pagan Mother Goddess. Thus, until the Christian church became politically powerful and could extirpate its enemies, the early Christians worked with and worshipped with existing Pagans, first in their sacred groves and shared other sacred hilltops and were even allowed to build their first Christian temples upon Pagan sites. Pagans were, it turned out, far too trusting but the hybrid nature of these temples can be seen from the so-called 'Devil Doors' to the left of the Altar in ancient churches and small niches near them which originally contained statuettes or symbols or relics of Pagan Gods and through which Pagan parades would snake. As time went on and Christianity became stronger these Devil Doors got smaller until Pagans had to bow in order to enter!
The May Day festival had a lot to do with husbandry as you say, Simon, but mainly linked to the breeding season of animals. As the animals were put to mate during this period so were humans themselves and the real reason for the Churches' objection to Maypole dancing can now be seen. It was a form of baptising the child into Paganism as it was being conceived. Something which the Christians could not intercept with their rites, hence the Maypole and Beltaine had to be banned in the hope of capturing the soul of the child into Christianity after it was born, during baptism.
There was of course nothing evil going on in Pagan festivals, most folk quite enjoyed them (as they do today, witness the fun at Halloween - the ancient Celtic Pagan festival of Samhain ). The greater mass of the people looked forward to them, it was all natural, ribald, rustic fun, but of course Church propaganda and their puritanical views on sex (designed to instil guilt and shame - better to control their minds) has since made most folk today think that ordinary Peasant traditions which were natural and observed for hundreds of thousands of years were actually dastardly Witchcraft, which of course is an absolute lie.
Our Old Gods were thus turned into the New Devils.
Makes you fink donnit?
The modern popularisation of the May Day holiday has more to do with the development of Socialism and the cultural impositions of Neo-Marxism upon our society. Blair reinforced the May-Day holiday during his reign to pacify red-flag wavers. As wikipedia's entry states:
"For the last 125 years, May Day has been appropriated by trade union and Socialist movements as a day commemorating the accomplishments of workers. It was adopted at the First Congress of the Second International (a coalition of international Socialist and workers movements) in 1889 to mark Chicago's Haymarket protests of May 1886. During the Haymarket protests, workers successfully demonstrated in favor of an eight-hour day, but during the skirmishes that broke out between police and protesters, eleven people were killed. After the Second International's Congress, May Day became a worldwide celebration of the international labor movement and was celebrated as much by workers marching in the colors of their trade unions as it was by neo-Pagan rituals.
Nowhere, however, was May Day celebrated with more fervor than in the USSR and its client states. As elsewhere, it was a public holiday with demonstrations of worker solidarity, but with the onset of the Cold War it increasingly became a propaganda show for Soviet technological achievements and military might. In Red Square, troops paraded their latest military hardware in front of huge, stage-managed crowds. Presidents of friendly regimes were invited to inspect the parades and, under effigies of Socialist heroes such as Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx, synchronized demonstrations of dance, music, and flag waving took place. These May Day parades and demonstrations were one of the few occasions when the West was allowed a peek behind the Iron Curtain and the displays were designed to inspire either admiration or fear."
This is what cultural assimilation looks like!
Thank you for your explanation and history of May Day, Simon. I've learned a lot about pagan customs since following Thomas Sheridan on YouTube.
I'm pleased that you enjoyed reading it.