MAYDAY

“Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.” – Victor Hugo

Today is Mayday, traditionally a day associated with the welcoming in of Spring. In many countries this was the day when people had a holiday, going out into the fields enjoying nature and when the young lads and lasses flirted with each other, their courting mimicking the couplings of the rest of the animal kingdom. Shakespeare in his play “As You Like It”, has this to say:

It was a lover and his lass —
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey-nonny-no —
That o'er the green cornfield did pass
In springtime, the only pretty ring-time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding.
Sweet lovers love the spring.

Between the acres of the rye —
With a hey, and a ho, and hey-nonny-no —
These pretty country folks would lie
In springtime, the only pretty ring-time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding.
Sweet lovers love the spring.

This carol they began that hour —
With a hey, and a ho, and hey-nonny-no —
How that a life was but a flower
In springtime, the only pretty ring-time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding.
Sweet lovers love the spring.

And therefore take the present time —
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey-nonny-no -
For love is crowned with the prime
In springtime, the only pretty ring-time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding.
Sweet lovers love the spring.

The holiday from work on Mayday assumed a rather more serious purpose in the 19th century and this was the observance of Labour Day in many countries around the world. International Workers’ Day commemorated on May 1st is for the people involved in the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago, Illinois. As the culmination of three days of labour unrest in the USA, the Haymarket incident was a source of outrage and admiration from people around the globe. In countries other than the United States and Canada, residents sought to make May Day an official holiday and their efforts largely succeeded. In some European countries, working people continue to use May Day parades as an opportunity to show disapproval with the government or to protest cuts in social programs. Although May Day received its inspiration from the United States, the U.S. Congress designated May 1 as Loyalty Day in 1958 due to the day's appropriation by the Soviet Union. Alternatively, Labor Day traditionally occurs sometime in September in the United States.

“Mayday” is also the international distress call which is used by ships and aircraft on radio when life-threatening emergencies strike them. It has nothing to do with the 1st of May, but rather is the phonetic spelling of the French words for “help me”.

Mayday |ˈmāˌdā| (also mayday) exclamation
an international radio distress signal used by ships and aircraft.

Noun: a distress signal using the word “Mayday”: We sent out a Mayday | [as adj. ] a Mayday call.
ORIGIN 1920s: representing a pronunciation of French m'aider, from venez m'aider ‘come and help me.’