A VERY PRECIOUS GIFT

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MAY

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Truly, A Face To Launch a Thousand Ships

Frank Sinatra & Nelson Riddle Orchestra – I’ve Got You Under My Skin (1956)
Composed by Cole Porter in 1936

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Her Grace enjoying a mid-afternoon nap in early May
The Grand Duchess always sleeps with one leg extended outside her bed – here it is the left!

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This Sweet & Merry Month of May – The Cambridge Singers & Conducted by John Rutter (1945)
This is an English Madrigal composed by William Byrd (1540-1623) and published in 1590

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And the flowers continue to bloom in the Merry Month of May including the Lilac (Syringa vulgaris) and Crepe Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica). I am lucky enough to have three Crepe Myrtle bushes in my garden, one purple and two puce, but no Lilacs, I am very sorry to say. However my bushes do not bloom until about the middle of June. but when they do bloom, they are beautiful.

Lilacs

Ann Ziegler (1910-2003) & Webster Booth (1902-1984) – We’ll Gather Lilacs
Written by Ivor Novello (1893-1951) for the musical Perchance to Dream (1945-1948)

Crepe Myrtle

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May is the fifth month of the year and has thirty-one days. It is named for the Greek Goddess, Maia.  The month’s birthstone is the Emerald, which is representative of love and success. Flowers that are associated with the month are the Lily of the Valley and Crataegus monogyna (Common Hawthorn).

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The First of May (May Day) is celebrated with festivals that are of ancient origin and marks the beginning of summer and takes place roughly midway between the  Northern Hemisphere‘s Spring Equinox and Midsummer Solstice. 

Participants often gather green branches and wildflowers, as part of the Bringing in the May on May Eve, the night prior to May Day. The collected foliage is used to make into wreaths and decorate buildings. A young girl is crowned as the May Queen and often has a young male (Jack in the Green) beside her. A decorated Maypole or Tree is set up for the occasion and revelers dance around it and often sing. Bonfires are also lit and there can be processions with the May Queen at their centres. The earliest record of the Maypole in the UK was in the 14th Century, but its popularity was well established by the turn of the century.

Pairs of boys and girls, as well as adults, stand around the base of the Maypole with each holding the end of a ribbon attached to the top of the pole. The boys move in once direction while the girls in the other resulting in the weaving of their ribbons around the pole. This is the dance in its simplest form, but there were some complex weaving patterns practiced at one time.

With the advent of Protestantism in the 16th Century, such activities as dancing around a Maypole was seen as a form of Idolatry and once Protestant Anglicanism was declared to be the state religion in England during the reign of Edward VI (born 1537; reigned 1547–1553), many Maypoles were destroyed. However when Mary I (1516-1568) ascended to the throne in 1553, she reinstated Roman Catholicism as the state religion and Maypoles and dancing resumed. However such practices have continued to be seen as Idolatry by some religious groups. Since Protestantism was still practiced in Scotland, Maypole dancing did not become a tradition.

Will You Remember (Sweetheart) – Nelson Eddy (1901-1967)
From the Operetta (Maytime) & Films (1923 & 1937)
Music by Sigmund Romberg (1887-1951) & Lyrics by Rida Johnson Young (1869-1926)

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At the beginning of the 20th Century, a tradition grew up in France to sell small bouquets of  Lily of the Valley on International Labour Day (i.e. the first of May, May Day) by labour organisations free of paying sales tax for that day only as a symbol of spring.

I was lucky enough to work in Paris for a number of years during the 1970s. During this time, I remember seeing women selling small bundles of Lily of the Valley on street corners.  When I asked was this to celebrate a special occasion, I was told that it was tradition for young men to bring their lady-loves a little bouquet of these flowers. No one mentioned the flower’s association with International Labour Day!  I was working in a hospital laboratory at the time and their were a number of women working there as well. So I thought that it would be nice to give each one a small Nosegay of these flowers.

Lily of the Valley

I recall that the lady selling the flowers was rather taken with my idea to bring female fellow colleagues such a gift, and for this, she gave me a rose. When I got to the laboratory, I distributed the flowers, but unfortunately, I was one Nosegay short. As a result, I gave the forgotten lady my rose. This lady was the supervisor of the junior staff and was not an especially pleasant woman. She was very flattered by the rose and behaved warmly towards me from then on. I later learned that the giving of a rose was seen as a wish to take our relationship one step further. I was not keen to do this and it took me some time to discourage her from the attention she showed me!

Now, what is the saying? No good deed goes unpunished!

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The International Workers Day or Labour Day is a celebration of Workers, the Labour Movementand the Working Class and takes place annually on the first day of May or on the first Monday in May in a number of countries.

In 1890, The International Workers Congress voted to support a demonstration by demands for an Eight-Hour Day. May the First was chosen by The American Federation of Labor for the demonstration to commemorate the general strike that began that date in 1886 in Chicago in the U.S. and culminated in what has become known as the Haymarket Affair on May 4th. This was a bombing that occurred at a labour demonstration at Haymarket Square in Chicago where workers were striking for an eight-hour day. This resulted in the death of a number of people and a large number of wounded.

Celebrating The Solidarity of Labor – Designed by Walter Crane (1845-1915) 

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During the Soviet Era (1922-1991), the U.S.S.R. and the Eastern Block, International Workers Day was celebrated in every city and town with huge parades, the largest being that which took place in Red Square, Moscow. During the Cold War period, it became  a military parade where the might of the State was shown to the world.

L’Internationale – Mandarin-Chinese Version
This piece of music was adopted as the Anthem of various Anarchist, Communist, Socialist &
Social Democratic Movements

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The Eighth of May is an important date for a number of reasons including marking the end of The Second World War in Europe (VE Day), the birthday of Sir David Attenborough (100 years of age in 2026) and World Donkey Day.

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