Today in history: May Day
By Abbie Wong
Mayday, mayday, everybody! Today, or in the past week, depending on when this article is released, the good old May Day happened. The holiday takes place on 1st May, and in ancient times was celebrated to mark the return of spring with a variety of European traditions. One, for example is the revival of Adonis, also known as Dionysus or Maios, in which a chorus of young girls would sing surrounding another young person pretending to be dead. Once the song was over, the young person was “resurrected” and given a floral wreath to wear. While a nice tradition, I’d highly recommend against doing this in Greece as it’s quite outdated and old. Ringing in the spring, however, was not the only significant thing to happen on May Day. In this article, I’ll look over some of the events that have occured on May Day.
The Formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain
On May Day in 1707, the Kingdom of Great Britain was formed, comprising Scotland and England with Wales encompassed in the latter. This state would last for nearly a century, until 1801 when Ireland joined the union to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Hong Kong Police Force Established
If we come back locally for a moment, May Day of 1844 was also when the Hong Kong Police Force was formally established. Yes, the same police force that employed excessive force against many of the protests that took place in 2019, some of which included the infamous water tanks shooting water laced with blue dye, the 831 incident, using pepper spray against the press, etc etc. But without a general law enforcement, we would be screwed, wouldn’t we? I should probably stop there and move fifty years ahead before you never hear from me again.
May Day also Becomes International Workers’ Day
In 1889, May Day was given a new cause to celebrate by the Marxist and socialist organisation, the Second International. The cause? International Workers’ Day, better known as Labour Day, which became a public holiday in many countries around the world. The day is particularly important in communist countries like China and North Korea, seeing that celebrations of the day feature military parades and the like to show appreciation of the workforce. However, one of the few countries not celebrating it is the United States. Perhaps it says something about the country’s treatment and acknowledgement of workers...this might seem unfortunately reasonable for the US, but it’s simply because they, along with Canada hold Labour Day on the first Monday of September. So it turns out, the true reason is just because the US is rather anti-communist.
First Day Distributing Salk’s Polio Vaccine
There’s no doubt COVID-19 swept up the world, impacting our lives for over a year now, and the vaccines made took less than a year. Compare that to 1956’s May Day, when the polio vaccine that took over five years to be made was first distributed to the public. The first vaccine, made by Hilary Koprowski was effective, but contained an active strain of polio which posed a risk for those who used it. Enter Jonas Salk, who made a variant of the vaccine without the risk of polio in 1955. Now, thanks to the work of Koprowski, Salk, as well as Albert Sabin, who made another polio vaccine, we basically live in a polio-free world.
Spongebob Squarepants Begins Airing
Let’s jump forty years ahead to 1999. The hit cartoon Spongebob Squarepants premiered on Nickelodeon, with the first story segment showing the titular character getting his job at the Krusty Krab, the second showing the world Squidward’s pessimism, and the last promoting difference appreciation in the form of Sandy Cheeks’ living habitat. Clearly, this is the most influential event that has ever occurred on May Day. Not the establishment of an eventually corrupt police force, or the distribution start of polio vaccines, Spongebob Squarepants was definitely the most important.
Sarcasm aside, Spongebob Squarepants has racked up controversy during its ongoing airtime, an example from many being a religious group in 2005 accusing the show of promoting homosexuality after it was featured in an online video set to “We are Family” by Sister Sledge promoting diversity and tolerance. It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? A video set to promote tolerance, breeding hatred in religious extremists.
Ten Countries Join the EU...and Birth of TikTok Star?
Five years later in 2004, ten countries joined the EU. Those being Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. This batch of countries is currently the largest number of countries to join the EU at once, with the second highest being the founding nations at five.
In November 2020, Hungary and Poland both vetoed a decision to access the EU’s COVID budget, showing concern over the rule of law. Unsurprisingly, the two countries were criticised for their vetoes, because it would be inevitable for you to sound terrible if you prevent access to a lifesaving budget. Their reasoning, however, was because of their disapproval of linking EU funds to a country’s respect of rule of law. This link would reduce a country’s cut to the budget if found to have violated the rule of law, which Hungary and Poland are currently guilty of.
However, as the EU welcomed its ten new members, social media star Charli D’Amelio was born in Connecticut. Her image as a teen girl who liked dancing would grow in fame exponentially in years to come, proven as she is currently the most followed user on TikTok.
Enjoy IKEA and Get a Same-Sex Marriage
To wrap up, May Day also serves as an important day for LGBTQ+ Swedes as it was the day same-sex marriage was put into effect in the country back in 2009, although the law approving it was passed a month before. The country became the seventh country excluding individual states in the US to do so, following the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa and Norway.
If there is anything that can be learned from all that has happened on one day in history, it’s that everyday has some meaning to it. No matter how insignificant it may feel to you as you mindlessly browse the internet looking for significance, there is always something important to each day. But if you think that you won’t remember anything from this article, please remember this: May Day is also my birthday.
I’m messing with you, try use History.com’s This Day in History function to find any nifty historical events that happened on any day important to you. May Day is still my birthday, though.
