May Day originated in pagan Europe. It was a festive holiday celebrating the first spring planting. Some people believe the ancient Romans invented the May Pole to honor the deities of new life and crops. Legend suggests they cut down a tree, decorated it with ribbons, then danced around it.

The ancient Celts and Saxons celebrated May 1st as Beltane or the day of fire. Bel was the Celtic god of the sun. The Saxons began their May Day celebrations on the eve of May (April 30th). It was an evening of games and feasting, celebrating the end of winter and the return of the sun and fertility of the soil.

When the Church could not eliminate many of the traditional feasts and holidays of the 'Old Religion,' they transformed them into Saints' days. During the middle ages the various trade guilds celebrated feast days for the patron saints of their craft...the shoemakers guild honored St. Crispin, the tailors guild celebrated Adam and Eve. As late as the 18th century various trade guilds and early craft unions would enter floats in local parades depicting Adam and Eve being clothed by the tailors and St. Crispin blessing the shoemaker.

In Europe, May Day was a festive time...a Queen of the May was chosen from the eligible young women of the village and a phallic May Pole was erected, around which the young single men and women of the village would dance holding on to the ribbons until they became entwined.

The Church did not take kindly to these celebrations. May Day and the May Pole were outlawed in the 1600's, but the holiday was still celebrated by many until the late 1700's. While many Christians would shy away from joining in the celebrations, those less afraid of papal authority would don masks and various costumes, not unlike our modern Halloween.

Today, May Day is celebrated as a workers holiday in just about every country in the world except for the United States. In the U.S., workers are honored on Labor Day (the first Monday in September) each year.