MAY DAY, popular name of the first day of the month of May, on which from a very early period general festivities took place. May has generally been regarded as a time for glad ness. The outbreak into new life and beauty which marks nature instinctively excites. The first emotion is a desire to seize some part of that profusion of flower or blossom which spreads around, to set it up in decorative fash ion and to let the pleasure which it excites find expression in dance and song; and among pa gans the tendency has been to render to this vegetative trophy a sort of homage. Among the Romans, the feeling of the time found vent in their Floralia, or Floral Games, which began on 28 April and lasted to 3 May. Among the old Celtic peoples, a festival called Beltein (Baal's fire) also was held on this day, hut it does not seem to have been connected with flowers, hut rather with sun-worship. In Chris tian times in the Celtic countries the Church Christianized this celebration by transferring it to 24 June, the feast of Saint John, which is still celebrated with bonfires. In England, as we learn from Chaucer and other writers, it was customary, during the Middle Ages. for all, both high and low — even the court itself — to go on the first May morning at an early hour "to fetch the flowers fresh." Hawthorn branches also were gathered; these were brought home about sunrise, with accompaniments of horn and tabor, and all possible signs of joy and merriment. The people then proceeded to dec orate the doors and windows of their houses with the spoils. By a natural transition of ideas, they gave the hawthorn bloom the name "the May" ; they called the ceremony "the bringing home the Maya ; they spoke of the ex pedition to the woods as "going The fairest maid of the village was crowned with flowers as the "Queen of the May"; placed in a little bower or arbor, where she sat in state, receiving the homage and admiration of the youthful revellers, who danced and sang around her. This custom of having a May queen seems a relic of the old Roman celebration of the day when the goddess Flora was specially wor shiped. How thoroughly recognized the cus tom had become in England may be illustrated by the fact that in the reign of Henry VIII the heads of the corporation of London went out into the high grounds of Kent to gather the May — the king and his queen, Catharine of Aragon, coming from their palace of Green wich, and meeting these respected dignitaries on Shooter's Hill. But perhaps the most con spicuous feature of these festive proceedings was the erection in every town and village of a fixed pole — the May-pole — as high as the mast of a vessel of 100 tons, on which, on May morning, they suspended wreaths of flowers, and round which the people danced in rings nearly the whole day. A severe blow was given
to these merry and often wild revels, by the Puritans, who, in their campaign of taking the joy out of life, caused May-poles to be up rooted and a stop put to all their jollities. They were, however, revived after the Restoration and long held their ground, but the celebration is now confined to school children, their elders not taking part, so much has our modern indus trial feudalism absorbed the leisure time of all but the parasite classes. In France, Germany and other countries, May-poles were common and festive sports are even yet observed. The Roman Catholic Church, in order to counteract the evils too often incident to the celebration of May Day, appears to have instituted the feast known in France as La
celebrated with processions and flowers. In America May Day celebrations have come into favor in the present century and in nearly all public parks of great cities games and processions are held. Consult Strutt, J.,
or members of the order Ephemerida.. The spe cies, of which about 300 have been described nearly one-third of which are North American, are fragile insects with large fore-wings, small or wanting hind-wings, short antenna, atrophied mouth parts and two or three thread-like ab dominal filaments. Being greatly attracted to lights, the adults are often a source of annoy ante in lakeside and riverside towns, and are sometimes especially troublesome in obscuring the lights from lighthouses. The eggs are laid in fresh water either upon the surface or upon the bottom, the female diving for this purpose. The larva, which feed mainly upon vegetable matter, are active creatures with strong legs, abdominal tracheal gills and anal appendages. They live upon the bottom, under stones, cov ered with mud, or in burrows. After moulting about 10 times wing pads appear, and these in crease with each moult until the last, which may be number 20. This occurs in the open air, the one previous to which occurs at the surface of the water, the insect escaping from its sub imago skin rather suddenly. One striking dif ference the adults exhibit is the development of paired sexual organs, which do not appear in other orders of insects. The larva may take three years to develop; the adults live only a few days, lay their eggs and die. Both adults and larva are important food for fishes, and consequently they form a favorite bait with anglers, and are imitated in making artificial flies.