Hi, and welcome to the Mayday edition of the Wannaskan Almanac. Mayday can mean one of two things. It is a celebration usually done on May the first or a distress signal. Which one you are thinking of right now depends on what you think of my writing!
The origin of Mayday as a celebration has its roots in Pagan tradition. Years before the birth of Christ the Druids celebrated a festival at the beginning of spring planting called the festival of Beltane. The Romans took over the British isles and brought their Mayday celebration to the citizens there. They celebrated their god Flora, which is the root of dancing around a Maypole with flowers. Traditional Mayday celebrations are not really observed anymore, at least not with dancing and flowers.
Here are some events that happened on May 1:
1751 First American cricket match was played. A few years later they switched to grasshoppers due to a trade embargo on crickets levied by King George.
1786 Mozart's opera "Marriage of Figaro" premiered in Vienna. Listen to the most famous song from this opera here.
1841 The first emigrant wagon train left Independence, Missouri, headed for California.
1931 The Empire State Building opened in New York City. King Kong was the first to climb it, according to legend.
1951 Mickey Mantle hit his first home run.
1961 Pulitzer prize awarded to Harper Lee for her novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". Here are two quotes from this timeless classic.
"Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it... There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself." - Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." - Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
Today's totally unusual word is Khalkha. If you are wondering if it has something to do with the original Superman movies...you are right...off track. Khalkha is the official language spoken by Mongolians. I guess that Superman could have been translated into Khalkha so you might not have been too far off track.
I will leave you with a traditional Maypole dance. If you feel like saying hi...or as the Khalkha say...Халх...then you can drop me an email at ffefreekshow@hotmail.com. I May read it...Junever know!
The origin of Mayday as a celebration has its roots in Pagan tradition. Years before the birth of Christ the Druids celebrated a festival at the beginning of spring planting called the festival of Beltane. The Romans took over the British isles and brought their Mayday celebration to the citizens there. They celebrated their god Flora, which is the root of dancing around a Maypole with flowers. Traditional Mayday celebrations are not really observed anymore, at least not with dancing and flowers.
Here are some events that happened on May 1:
1751 First American cricket match was played. A few years later they switched to grasshoppers due to a trade embargo on crickets levied by King George.
1786 Mozart's opera "Marriage of Figaro" premiered in Vienna. Listen to the most famous song from this opera here.
1841 The first emigrant wagon train left Independence, Missouri, headed for California.
1931 The Empire State Building opened in New York City. King Kong was the first to climb it, according to legend.
1951 Mickey Mantle hit his first home run.
1961 Pulitzer prize awarded to Harper Lee for her novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". Here are two quotes from this timeless classic.
"Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it... There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself." - Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." - Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
Today's totally unusual word is Khalkha. If you are wondering if it has something to do with the original Superman movies...you are right...off track. Khalkha is the official language spoken by Mongolians. I guess that Superman could have been translated into Khalkha so you might not have been too far off track.
I will leave you with a traditional Maypole dance. If you feel like saying hi...or as the Khalkha say...Халх...then you can drop me an email at ffefreekshow@hotmail.com. I May read it...Junever know!
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