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May Day, Beltane and International Workers' Day observances

cultureMay 1, 20261555,248

Communities marked May 1 with Beltane rites, the Magdalen College Choir singing from its Oxford tower at 6 a.m., and International Workers' Day actions that included launching a permanent Solidarity Fund to support striking workers. On May 1, 1971 the Angry Brigade detonated a bomb at the Biba fashion boutique in London. Socialist Yugoslavia observed May Day as a state "holiday of labour" with mass picnics and communal bean‑soup meals under Tito. These layers of ritual, celebration and political organizing show why May 1 remains both a seasonal festival and a focal point for labor solidarity and protest.

For we know this about May Day , it is the day when all the cut back horns of the old gods grow back. -
@hookland.bsky.social377
A police officer on a seaplane quizzically looks at a fish mask
@lauraehall.bsky.social210
A Garland for May Day, dedicated to the workers by Walter Crane
@helleborezine.bsky.social168
Happy . I’m taking a moment to enjoy the Hawthorn (also known as May or Mayblossom), the powerfully symbolic & sacred tree used throughout history to repel evil
@trevorthebotanist.bsky.social135
Watercolour painting of Magdalen College tower in Oxford from across the river.
@ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social94
Happy Friday/ Beltane/ May Day everybody :) I’ve been in the kitchen all day getting ready to BBQ this afternoon which Cher is eagerly anticipating
@asifcherbear.bsky.social131
Happy Beltane! 🌼🌞🌼 It's May Day and today we welcome the summer, celebrate fertility and the renewal of life with new growth. It's also the best day to see t
@weird-wiltshire.bsky.social97
Happy Beltane and May Day! Here is Little Mari from 2024 dancing with Jack in the Green
@skullsandsheets.bsky.social84
www.bidstonhill.org.uk/heritage/tra... No Druids or Morris Men on Bidston Hill this year for May Day sunrise, but a beautifully transcendent experience neverthe
@martintravis.bsky.social84
Photograph: Beltane, our local Border Morris side, dancing on a road high up on the moor, at Cross Tree by Hay Tor.
@terriwindling.bsky.social56
Reversible, two headed playing card shows an angel blowing a golden trumpet and clutching a plant (wheat?) with a black star in the top left and bottom right corner. The word “solidarité” is printed on the bottom left edge and top right edge. Top right edge also has “LECLAIRE à Paris”. Gallica gives the date of this card as 1873-99, probably based on known dates of that printer
@willpooley.bsky.social47
Happy May Day, Beltane! Native Hawthorn (Cretageous monogyna) a sacred tree with mystical and protective properties since Prehistory. The leaves, flowers and be
@prehistoricwirral.bsky.social58
It now being the May Day aforementioned: a sale! an offing! 26% down! Seismic stuff! itch.io/s/185255/may...
@wizardthieffighter.bsky.social39
View from Magdalen Tower at sunrise, looking over Oxford’s skyline, with a dense crowd of thousands filling the street below for May Morning celebrations.
@ox.ac.uk47
Happy May Day! Happy Beltane! Happy Floralia! And happy birthday to me 💐
@ivyartemisia.bsky.social49
A Hawthorne tree which has partially fallen over the path, but has not died, providing a May blossom arch to walk under this glorious May Day.
@kizzia.bsky.social54
A shopped screenshot of a tweet that reads, "me and my friends would've killed capitalism with hammers i can tell you that much"
@marcnormandin.bsky.social50
Celebrating May Day and Bealtaine It is the traditional Irish transition to the new season of summer Hawthorn is in flower now and it has always had special sig
@antaisce.bsky.social25
Gaily dressed men and women dance round a a cylindrical costume made almost entirely out of leaves, highlighted with pink and yellow costumes. The face of the young woman wearing it can be seen smiling through an aperture and the pointed toe of her boot peeps out from beneath.
@theghostmonk.bsky.social31
US singer, actor, and activist, Paul Robeson, leading Glasgow's 1960 May Day parade. Picture taken at the Buchanan St./George St. junction, just by the the St G
@lostglasgow.bsky.social31
Wood engraving depicting the Haymarket riot
@annethegnome.bsky.social26
A clear river flowing over a stony bed and under a curved simple wooden footbridge. Green vegetation and trees coming into leaf in both sides. Sunny blue sky.
@janh1.bsky.social34
Villagers tie the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) to the Maypole. That’s the countryside for you. [Doctor Who – The Dæmons]
@alexwilcock.bsky.social25
A lorry with an image of Bermondsey's new health centre and a role play of dental treatment, etc.
@municipaldreams.bsky.social22
Postcard designed by a colleague Emma, which I have on my desk at work. It has a red and white ribbon zig-zagging down the centre which has "There is POWER in a UNION" written on it and decorative flowers at the bends. White background with pale blue dots across it emmablue.co.uk
@localnotail.bsky.social20
White apple blossom flowers
@thequietplace.bsky.social32
A beautiful wreath of bright multicolour flowers on a wooden post. Caption reads: Happy Beltane.
@madamegothica.bsky.social31
Beltane is the Gaelic Celtic name ( Bealtaine , Beltane or Beilteine, Beltan, Bealtaine in Irish and Bealltainn in Scottish Gaelic ') for the third of the four major religious festivals of the protohistoric Celtic year, celebrated onMay 1stlt is also the name of the month of May in Irish ('Mí na Bealtaine", literally "The month of Beltane") and the name of theMay 1st in Scottish Gaelic. Which one?!. This article does not cite its sources sufficiently (May 2021). The Beltane festival in Edinburgh. On the cycle of the year, it comes after Samhain and Imbolc and marks the beginning of the light season. It is related to the divine entities of the daytime part of the Indo-European year, particularly fire (ritual; of the word; healing). Despite gaps in continental documentation, it is associated with the names
@lgbettea.bsky.social22
Well even in these dark times has arrived here in all its ravishing splendour. Our old maple tree erupting into leaf these past 2 days
@rokewood.bsky.social26
concrete post with the words public footpath carved in in capital letters. trees in the sunshine behind.
@radiolento.bsky.social28
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