Welcome to another long weekend, at least for those of you whose Labor Day is celebrated on May 1st, which conveniently falls on next Monday this year. So enjoy the holiday, the warming (or cooling) season, and consider the many colorful aspects of this interesting time of the year.
Purely Calendarically Speaking
No matter what the christian, pagan, or political connotations of this time of the year, one thing remains undeniable: On our annual trip around the sun, we're at the half-way point between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice - on the Northern hemisphere, that is. On the other side of the world it would logically correspond to the point between the Fall Equinox and the Winter Solstice, which is more like Halloween, but that would take me away from the topic at hand.
Summer's on the Way
Yes, especially on cold and rainy days like today (in Berlin) we may need a reminder, even though we've had T-shirt weather as far back as March, and exactly one week ago it felt like high Summer already. But these back-and-forth steps notwithstanding, this is the time that's recognized as the start of the Summer season in ancient traditions, which has been celebrated as Beltane by the Celtic cultures on the British Isles. Livestock was driven out to the pastures, doors and windows were opened and decorated with flowers, and bonfires were lit, where people would dance around, or leap over it for purification.
The Adoration of Trees
Also elsewhere in Europe this day has had a special importance in ancient traditions. Culturally there were variations in how people celebrated it, but it would typically involve flowers, wreaths, trees, singing, dancing, lovemaking, and of course burning bonfires. Here in central Europe perhaps the most recognizable feature of this holiday is the maypole, typically a birch tree, stripped of its branches, except for the very top, and erected in the village square. Just below the tip a wreath would be hung, under which long ribbons were attached, hanging all the way to the ground. People would hold these ribbons, dancing around the pole, wrapping it in intricate patterns.
In Southern Germany, where I grew up, there was even a tradition for young men to steal a maypole from one of their neighboring villages, and place it in front of the door of the lady they liked. This great feat of devotion was impossible to ignore. Of course, this also meant, that the guys of a village were "required" to keep a watchful eye on their maypole, which effectively meant hanging out around it all night, drinking and partying. Though at the same time, temptation persisted to go out and see whether any neighboring maypoles were left unprotected, which meant, leaving their own maypole up for grabs...
Sex, Fertility, and Catholicism
I think it goes without saying that the tree and the wreath are obvious symbols of fertility, which is quite appropriate for this season. The same can be said about the dances, the courtship rituals, and the general merrymaking that is associated with this holiday. Jumping over a fire together with your partner would also add a certain thrill of mastering something dangerous together, making you want to follow it up with a kiss. As far as the Catholic Church goes, it's not surprising that these rituals tended to go against their grain... However, after finally having baptized the heathens, and successfully converting them to Christianity, it would have been counterproductive to force them to stop celebrating their sexuality, especially at the time when nature all around them was doing the same thing.
Instead, the church turned to a nifty trick, which had worked for many other formerly pagan holidays: It incorporated it into their own doctrine, associating it with one of their own saints. So in Germany (and various other European countries) the last night of April became known as Walpurgisnacht, after an 8th century abbess who was canonized on May 1st 870. She was a healer who founded monasteries and converted many heathens, so her worship is associated with healing and protection from witchcraft. Interestingly, during the last centuries this led to the notion that on her night witches were particularly powerful, celebrating a kind of "Hexensabbath" on the Blocksberg, another name for the Brocken in the Harz mountains. And how could good folks protect themselves from all this evil? By lighting bonfires, of course!
From Bonfires to Burning Cars
So apparently, the one feature uniting pagan fertility rituals and Christian protection from witches, are bonfires. And quite interestingly, this can also apply to another aspect of the first of May, if we expand our focus to the modern labor movement. Since the 1886 the 1st of May has been used for strikes and demonstrations, starting with the struggle for the eight-hour workday, and culminating in the annual marches and military parades in the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. Even today, in most countries in the world May 1st is celebrated as International Worker's Day and is a public holiday.
On the front lines of the Cold War, meaning in West Berlin in the 1980's, this day - or rather the preceding night - became known for its riots. While across the wall the socialists were demonstrating their successful implementation of Marxist-Leninist ideals, in the West the occasion was often taken to erupt in violent chaos - against capitalism. This was even more the case after the wall came down, and the red May 1st started getting a heavy streak of black, referring to the black block, as well as the blackened streets and squares after the burned-out cars and flying cobblestones.
Let's Jump Over the Fire!
In recent years the Berlin administration, as well as many residents who were tired of the regular outburst of violence and destruction stepped up and started organizing peaceful events for May Day and Walpurgisnacht, such as the MyFest, which kept getting bigger until Covid made a stop to it. However, while places that had been notorious for riots, such as the Mariannenplatz in Kreuzberg or the Kolowitzplatz in Prenzlauer Berg became venues of peaceful celebration, riots would often break out in other locations, such as Friedrichshain or Wedding. This year there are also many events being planned for the seasonal festivities, ranging from parties to marches. Even though it promises to be mostly fun and calm, with Berlin you simply can't be certain. But that's all good. In a way, this also goes along with the holiday's traditional mix of joy and danger.