May Day has been a traditional day of festivities throughout the centuries. May Day is most associated with towns and villages celebrating springtime fertility and revelry with village fetes and community gatherings. Since the reform of the Catholic Calendar, May 1st is the Feast of St Philip & St James, they became the patron saints of workers. Seeding has been completed by this date and it was convenient to give farm labourers a day off. Perhaps the most significant of the traditions is the Maypole, around which traditional dancers circle with ribbons. (Source; Wikipedia)
Wait, what? Saint Philip is the patron saint of workers? And there is a feast? Why haven’t I heard of this before now? I guess I shall look up some information about this saint named Philip.
According to some new testament stories, Philip was evangelizing in the city of Hierapolis and managed to convert the city proconsuls wife. The jealous proconsul had Philip and Bartholomew crucified upside down. Philip starts preaching from this precarious position and the townspeople decide to take them down.
Bartholomew is released, but Philip tells them to leave him be. He’s not done with his upside down sermonizing. So they left him there till he died.
Am I named after this lunatic evangelist?
Or, am I named after the Philip that died from a beheading in another town?
Luckily, I am named after my great uncle Philip and my aunt Phyllis. I can pick from several bible stories which Saint Philip I want to be the Catholic saint. (One of the original Christian church rules states that you must name your kids after saints)
Apparently there are St Philip’s churches, colleges, and organizations all over the world that train and provide workers for various jobs and industries. No wonder I side with Democrats, the party of working men and women, (who work in the factories and skyscrapers owned by faithless barbarian Republican overlords), they named me after the patron saint of workers.
That was all very interesting background about May Day and Saint Philip, but I hope to be somewhere on May first where I can take pictures of people dancing around a Maypole.
I shall do more research. In the meantime...
Today’s Somehow Related Video;
Workers Day Off
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