May

May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It's spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Late May typically marks the start of the summer vacation season in the United States (Memorial Day) and Canada (Victoria Day).

May is generally thought to have been named after Maia, the Greek goddess of fertility.

The first day of the month is known as May Day. In Britain, as in most parts of Western Europe, May Day marked the end of the harsh winter months, welcoming warmer weather and optimistically looked forward to brighter and productive months. For our ancestors, largely in rural areas, it was a major annual festival and was celebrated throughout the country, with music, dancing and games. Traditional May Day celebrations included dancing around maypoles.

According to old superstitions, you should not buy a broom, wash blankets or get married in May: “Marry in May and you’ll rue the day”. 

It's difficult (nigh on impossible) to know the exact reason why the Romans avoided May weddings, it could have been due to the festival of Lemuria, which paid tribute to the dead and lasted most of the month. Therefore some believed it would have been frowned upon (and considerd unlucky) to wed when you were supposed to be celebrating the deceased.

In the nursery rhyme “Here we go gathering nuts in May,” the word “nuts” was probably a corruption of “knots” meaning bunches of flowers.

Sears Tower, now known as Willis Tower, is a 108-story 1,451 feet (442 m) skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. At the time of its completion on 4th May 1973, it was the tallest building in the world.

Amy Johnson was the first female pilot to fly solo from England to Australia on the 5th May 1930. Aged 26 she set off from Croydon in a Gipsy Moth aircraft named 'Jason', and landed in Darwin on 24th May, a flight distance of approx 11,000 miles.

The official opening of the Channel Tunnel by Queen Elizabeth II and French President François Mitterand took place on 6th May 1994.

VE Day marks the end of the War with Germany, on Tuesday 8th May 1945.

On 13th May 1995 British woman Alison Hargreaves became the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas. She was only the second person in history to reach the top of Everest unaided; the first person was Reinhold Messner in 1980.
The summit of Everest was first reached on 29th May 1953, by New Zealander Edmund Hillary, and the Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.

On May 20th, 1927, Charles Lindbergh piloted his small plane, The Spirit of St. Louis nonstop from New York to Paris in less than 34 hours.

Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy on 12th May 1820.

The Golden Gate Bridge opened to to pedestrians on 27th May 1937 and vehicular traffic the next day.

Ian Flemming, the creator of the best known fictional spy James Bond, was born on 28th May 1908 in London.

Big Ben is the largest four-faced chiming clock and the third tallest free-standing clock tower in the world. It first started ticking on 31st May 1859.

∼ Happy May Day∼

Polly x