Thought for the Day: May 1, 2024 - Happy May Day!

Post by Graveyardbride on May 1, 2024 0:48:13 GMT -5

May Day Festivals. Primitive man lived and died by his harvest. The purpose of his spring ceremonies was to ensure a plentiful autumn. Relics of these fertility dramas are to be found all over Europe. In Great Britain, for example, one can still see harmless versions of them danced in obscure villages on May Day. Their cast includes many alarming characters: a man-animal or hobby horse who canters at the head of the procession charging at girls, a man-woman, a sinister teaser, played by the community leader or priest, and a man-fool, “Punch,” the most complex of all the symbolic figures, the privileged simpleton and “King for a day.” Six swordsmen follow these figures and at the climax of the ceremony, lock their swords together in a clear symbol of the sun. In pagan times, however, these dancers were not simply picturesque jigs, they were frenzied rites ending in a sacrifice by which the dancers hoped desperately to win over the goddess of the fields. In good times, they offered produce to the gods and slaughtered animals, but in bad years, when the harvest had been poor, the sacrifice was a human being. In some cultures, it would be the king himself, in others, their most beloved virgin, and very often, he or she would be kept hidden for months preceding the ceremony; just as the sun is hidden from earth in winter. Methods of sacrifice differed. Sometimes the victim would be drowned in the sea, or burned to death in a huge sacrificial bonfire. Sometimes the six swordsmen ritually beheaded the virgin. The chief priest then skinned the child, and wearing the still warm skin like a mantle, led the rejoicing crowds through the streets. The priest thus represented the goddess reborn and guaranteed another successful harvest next year. – The Wicker Man, 1973.

Happy May Day!