Mayday! Mayday!

Fiona Uncategorized

Friday 1st May . . . all sorts of things to think about, starting with

(Image Credit: Melbourne Protests)

If you see a history of May Day in the newspapers this year, it is most likely to recount the mystical, medieval origins of a pagan fertility festival. And though you may never have seen a maypole in your life, you will be assured that a ribboned piece of birchwood is the sign and sanction of May Day.

Yet this has little to do with the reason that 1 May is celebrated in Britain, or why it is an international holiday . . . . May Day is international workers day. As such, it is – in the words of Eric Hobsbawm – “the only unquestionable dent made by a secular movement in the Christian or any other official calendar”. And its past is more rowdy than is suggested by the imagery of Morris dancers serenely waving hankies and bells around.

The origin of our present holiday lies in the fight for an eight-hour working day, in which cause the leaders of the socialist Second International called for an international day of protest to be held at the beginning of May 1890. They did so just as the American Federation of Labour was planning its own demonstration on the same date. The UK protest actually took place on a Sunday, and in London alone attracted 300,000 protesters to Hyde Park.

Initially, May Day was intended to be a one-off protest, and in some ways quite a solemn affair. But it persisted amid a flourishing of trade unionism. The symbolism of the workers’ Easter, of rebirth and renewal, dramatised this experience of revival. And it developed a carnivalesque aspect. May Day did not merely enact internationalism and working class solidarity; it celebrated these things with the familiar paraphernalia of badges, flags, art, sporting events and heavy drinking.

This is the beginning of a fine article: I commend it to Pubsters.

So, let’s recreate some of that carnival atmosphere – but with moderate consumption of alcohol, of course.

We will also have our Friday raffle, lots of good music, and even though the article’s author quite rightly says May Day is much more than maypoles, let’s get those paws a-twitching and the ribbons a-winding!

(Image Credit: Life With Cats)

537 thoughts on “Mayday! Mayday!”

  1. jaycee,

    My mother was racist

    And so was mine. She was born 1923 and when the negro musicians came to perform before the war she couldn’t get enough of going to their “gigs”. That is what she told me. An examination of chronology …

    Maybe she meant just after the war, when she had a baby to look after …

  2. Fiona,

    One of these days I might reveal the last serious encounter I had with a Presbyterian.

    Good to see you came out of it. How did he finish up?

  4. Ducky,

    How did he finish up?

    The individual concerned was female, and blithely unchanged by what ended up being a very bitter encounter.

    I cut my losses, and what had been a good friendship.

  5. This is an interesting subject…I hope you don’t mind me going on about it a bit…But i think i worked out how they injected the catholic doctrine in so deep..(forget that!)…and i bet , Joe, if you asked your friend this he will confirm it..the used to show picture-slides alongside of stories of the lives of the saints and martyrs…the pics were always gory, bloodletting things…you see, they had to get the children to hate…and that is how they got their loyalty and those other prejudices into the mind of the child ; through fear developed through hate…
    Can there be a more brutal and heinous crime than deliberating teaching a child to hate?

    Their only failing was that they couldn’t totally corrupt the mind of a “dreamer”..I was a dreamer..I never looked too hard at those slide shows..they were boring..I was always looking out the window at the world outside…right through my school years into high school…always got into trouble for it!

    There’s a whole world out there!

  6. Jaycee,

    Their only failing was that they couldn’t totally corrupt the mind of a “dreamer”.

    I hope that will always be the case. On the other hand . . . perhaps time to re-read Animal Farm and, more particularly, 1984.

  7. BK,

    Thank you – it is fascinating how some families’ birthdays cluster.

    My dad and I were born on the same day, his next oldest brother two days later, and my maternal grandmama a week after that.

    The rest of the immediate family was and is scattered (spattered?) throughout the calendar.

  10. One might think that Stunt Boy, being a lover of all things blokey, like skulling beers, perving at female chests and chomping on raw onions, would be only too happy to put on some ear muffs, Blundstones and a fluoro vest and run the Victa over the lawns at Kirribilli House himself. One would be wrong though…..

    Kirribilli House gardening costs balloon to $200,000 a year
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/kirribilli-house-gardening-costs-balloon-to-200000-a-year-20150502-1my5qz.html

  11. “Can there be a more brutal and heinous crime than deliberating teaching a child to hate?”

    I think there is. It is to teach a child that there is hell and purgatory. That totally deprives the child of the free thought with which it was born and condemns it to a regime of culpa mea.

  13. I see that domestic violence has become a big issue for Your Government

    The federal government has increased the amount of money it is allocating to community groups to steer vulnerable people away from extremist ideologies from $1m to $1.6m.

    The attorney general, George Brandis, said the funds would go to 34 community organisations across Australia.

    http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/may/02/federal-government-allocates-16m-to-steer-vulnerable-away-from-extremism

  14. Great to read news of FPMJG being herself as always and apparently going well, as she would!

    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/julia-gillard-bears-no-enmity-towards-kevin-rudd/

    I still miss her though! I would have done even if the Krudd had managed to win government instead of the the horror we have running the our poor country now.

    J is for Julia and the Joy she gave.
    U is for Us, so Useless to save
    Labor while staying Loyal to her,
    In spite of our Instinct that never
    Again could we Australians be so proud of our name.

  16. This day in 1982:

    The RN’s aircraft carriers and landing craft stay to the east of the Falklands – out of range of the land based Argentinian aircraft.

    We learn that the Israeli Aircraft Industries people who were doing heavy maintenance on the Argies Mirages and who were said to have been withdrawn are now in Peru and are still working on the avionics and fitting long range fuel tanks. (The relationship between the Brits and Israel has never been the same since.)

    Any threat from the Argentinian Navy is now nullified so the screen destroyers and frigates go forward.

    Some loses expected but that’s what the screen is there for.

  17. Good morning Dawn Patrollers.

    Another “barnacle” just hanging on by a thread?
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-says-his-second-budget-will-be-measured-responsible-and-fair-20150502-1mygyo.html
    SBS will have to use truth as a defence for this. A touch ironic perhaps?
    http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/struggle-street-backlash-sbs-pulls-promo-advertisement-20150502-1myi9j.html
    Peter FitzSimons reflects on his trip to Gallipoli.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/to-thine-own-self-be-true–lest-we-forget-20150502-1mxlf9.html
    Sussan Ley continues to demonstrate what a third rate dud Dutton was as Health Minister.
    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/ley-to-announce-multimilliondollar-rescue-package-for-labor-health-scheme-20150502-1mxqrb.html
    Peter Martin extols the virtues and benefits of playing chess.
    http://www.smh.com.au/comment/more-than-a-game-more-than-a-sport-chess-might-hold-the-answer-to-many-of-our-problems-20150502-1mxdjw.html
    The Victorian Education Department boys’ lunch club. What a disgrace this is showing to be!
    http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/members-of-education-department-lunch-club-had-little-fear-of-audits-20150502-1mxjku.html
    The UK Supreme Court gets into action on emissions reduction.
    https://newmatilda.com/2015/05/02/uk-supreme-court-orders-action-air-pollution-australias-air-declining-well
    What a mess the NBN has turned into!
    http://www.canberratimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/nbn-accelerates-household-access-figures-but-critics-fault-multitechnology-mix-20150502-1m8v24.html
    It’s not over yet for Carol Mills.
    http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/former-secretary-of-the-department-of-parliamentary-services-carol-mills-to-face-another-senate-hearing-20150502-1mxzw0.html
    Remember Ray Stevens? Dave Donovan now tells the whole story and says the Queensland Parliamentary Ethics Committee should act.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/exclusive-integrity-commission-advice-poses-questions-for-mermaid-ray-to-chicken-dance-around,7657

  20. BK, Missed your bit on birthdays last night. Wanted to add that my dad and his brother were born on the same day two years apart. Nothing unusual there except they died on the same day, two years apart, exactly the same age.

  23. Abbott and Bananas said on Friday that Australia should ‘move on’ from the execution of Chan and Sukumaran. Aren’t they lucky the timely arrival of the latest royal sprog has given them something that will distract the media.

    But because I don’t like being bossed around by The NE and Bananas I’m not going to move on yet. Neither is Bob Ellis.

    Abbott tells Australians to get over Sukumaran and Chan
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/abbott-tells-australians-to-forget-about-sukumaran-and-chan,7659

  25. And – while we were all supposed to be looking at Anzac Day and indulging in war porn this escaped attention, which was exactly what the government wanted. This government is getting quite the reputation for ignoring world meetings and conferences on important issues.

    Australia ignored the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty meeting, in the hype about ANZAC Day
    https://nuclearnewsaustralia.wordpress.com/2015/04/27/australia-ignored-the-nuclear-non-proliferation-in-the-hype-about-anzac-day/

  27. Five different headings just for la petite princesse in Le Figaro. The French media is as royal baby hungry as the Aussie media.

  31. Buggeur mes amis. It would have to have made for a better Texas than it turned out.

    How Texas could have been French-speaking… had it not been for this maritime disaster

    Timber by timber, stave by rotted stave, the wreck of a 17th-century French ship that had a profound if largely unknown impact on American history is being pieced back together, and is now set to reach its final resting place.

    The wreck is that of the sailing vessel La Belle, and when it sank in Matagorda Bay, Texas, in 1686, France’s doomed New World settlement lost its lifeline. The mission, headed by reputed explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, ended in total disaster. To the bottom of the sea, along with La Belle, went the expedition’s entire stock of equipment for the settlement. The increasingly loathed La Salle was then murdered by his own men, and the nascent colony itself was wiped out.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/how-texas-could-have-been-frenchspeaking-had-it-not-been-for-this-maritime-disaster-10221340.html

  33. gigilene

    Less guns more croissants. Has to be a good swap.

    Bush senior was a born and bred New England Brahmin type. Why he had to fight what they called the “wimp factor” in his political career as he looked to go for the top job. This despite his WWII record.

    Memory of what happened to dad probably why his son The Shrub got his Texas ranch and like Tones had heaps of manly man photo ops on the ranch “cutting brush” or looking otherwise manly. Plus of course his setting the record for most number of executions in Texas and making a show of how relaxed and comfortable he was about it.

    May also have pushed him along in starting stupid wars. Overcompensating like our own NE .

    A “wimp factor” article from 1987 about Bush snr.

    Bush Battles the ‘Wimp Factor’

    By Margaret Garrard Warner 10/19/87 at 5:57 PM

    At the Greenwich Country Day School in the 1930s, boasting and strutting were anathema, the boorish behavior of parvenus and cheap politicians. To instill modesty and self-discipline, the school graded its privileged young charges not only in math and history, but in a category called “Claims no more than his fair share of time and attention.

    ……………..Yet Bush suffers from a potentially crippling handicap — a perception that he isn’t strong enough or tough enough for the challenges of the Oval Office. That he is, in a single mean word, a wimp.

    http://www.newsweek.com/bush-battles-wimp-factor-207008

  34. KK

    The Shrub and NE have so much in common. Yes, croissants instead of gun would certainly have changed the Texas culture.

  35. gigilene

    I became convinced the NE was a virtual doppelgänger of GWB when he was still in opposition. His time as PM has not persuaded me to waver from that belief.

  36. gigilene,

    Bush Junior and Bush Senior would have been French speakers … Fewer guns? Who knows.

    You can guarantee that they would have loved to regularly give the Guillotine a good work-out!

  37. gigilene

    While you are here and speaking of croissants. There was a French settlement in New Zealand and although tiny they still make croissants 🙂

    “Best croissants outside of France!”

    5 of 5 stars Review of Akaroa Bakery

    This place doesnt look like a french bakery and they certainly don’t do many french pastries but the croissants are surperb. We made a point of getting them first thing each morning to avoid missing out. The french breads are only baked on the weekend. Coffee was also great.
    We found the new manager to be extremely friendly and generous!

    Or you could pop down to the L’Escargot Rouge-Deli to Go for some……

    We have “Le Parisien” Breakfasts, Baguettes, Croissants, Pain au Chocolat, Fresh Fruit with Yoghurt & Honey, Homemade Toasted Muesli ,Croque Monsieur, Brioche, Croque Madame, Grande Ham & Gruyere croissants, Sandwiches, Bacon & eggs, Pain Au Raisin, Apple Custard Danishes, fresh Artisan breads and homemade pies are just some of the delicious Deli Foods on our menu.

    http://www.akaroa.com/lescargot-rouge-deli-go

  39. KK

    Gee … No such luck around here. Today I went to a French Patisserie in Bowral, looking for a croissant. They were too flakey. I could see the upper crust not being uniform, and that’s usually a bad sign. But not the only bad sign. Anyway, I got myself a chocolate eclair which was okay. Just.

    When I was a teenager, I used to pass by a patisserie and looked at those croissants au beurre but I could rarely afford one. C’est la vie.

  40. gigilene

    Looking at a bit more of the history of Akaroa most of the French settlers came from Rochefort, Charente-Maritime. Both still little port settlements.

  41. KK

    “The name Akaroa is Kāi Tahu Māori for ‘Long Harbour’,” (wiki) Appropriate name. I must say Akaroa looks brighter, sunnier and prettier. Rochefort is very flat and not much of a holiday resort. Its history is also quite unsettling.

  42. gigilene

    “Its history is also quite unsettling”

    May be why those settlers opted for heading off to the “ends of the earth” .

  43. Abbott just couldn’t wait to send a grovelling message to the royals last night, sending his and Margie’s congrats on behalf of us all almost as soon as the baby’s head appeared. A great day for all Australians? Why?

    Bill Shorten got it right though –

    The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, welcomed the news of the birth, but also congratulated women who have recently given birth in Australia.

    “According to the ABS [Australian Bureau of Statistics] there’s probably been another 850 babies born in Australia in the last 24 hours,” he said.

    “And I would like to congratulate all new parents, not just in Buckingham Palace, but in all of the maternity hospitals around Australia. Because each of them are going to be holding a little piece of perfection that they will love dearly for the rest of their lives.”

    http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/may/03/tony-abbott-birth-royal-baby-great-day-for-australians-princess-cambridge

  46. gigilene

    My “ends of the earth” came from what NZ put on their WWI memorials in France , Belgium and Gallipoli . ‘From the Uttermost Ends of the Earth’. ‘Tis exactly where they came from to fight for empire and lord knows what.

  47. Did I mention the UnZudders are beating the Kangaroos 26-6 in the ruggerby league ?

  48. KK

    I always thought Tierra del Fuego was in the “uttermost” ends of the earth, and, for me, NZ was just the end of the world…

  49. A French navy ship sent to boost EU migrant patrols in the Mediterranean rescued 217 people Saturday off the coast of Libya, officials said.

    /french-patrol-boat-saves-217-people-from-sea-off-libya

  50. gigilene

    When it comes to Greenwich and its “Mean Time” and distance from it ye cannae get much further away than NZ.

Comments are closed.