So I’m Wiccan, and while if pulls from things, and arises out of an occult millieu much older than it, Wicca is essentially a modern religion. The Wheel of The Year, the Wiccan liturgical calendar, is newer than the labor movement’s establishment of May 1st as Intl. Worker’s Day.
Beltane, was originally a Gaelic holiday Marking the midway point between the Spring Equinox and the summer solstice (and its not even what the Holiday was originally called in Wicca btw).
It makes sense that a general spirit of resistance would come from working class Irish and Scottish who sat on the periphery of English Industrializations benefits, and were more easily exploited as cheap labor. And it makes sense that they might latch onto an existing springtime festival as a date for a radical workers holiday. Spring means new birth, perhaps even of a world beyond Capitalism.
Also some important labor movement events happened around that time of year, most famously the Haymarket Affair, Which had a huge impact on the son selection of May 1st.
So I don’t think it’s at all bad that international Workers day, the culture of a historically colonized people, and pagan springtime holidays, both ancient and modern, all coincide and intersect. In fact I think it’s a beautiful thing.
It’s like looking at Pride month, and Juneteenth in the US, and asking why gay people stole June from black people. They didn’t. Two oppressed people groups in the US experienced seismic events in the history of their liberation during that month. And that’s sick as hell!
Are you including Beltane and Wiccan Sabbaths that got coopted by the labor movement or…
So I’m Wiccan, and while if pulls from things, and arises out of an occult millieu much older than it, Wicca is essentially a modern religion. The Wheel of The Year, the Wiccan liturgical calendar, is newer than the labor movement’s establishment of May 1st as Intl. Worker’s Day.
Beltane, was originally a Gaelic holiday Marking the midway point between the Spring Equinox and the summer solstice (and its not even what the Holiday was originally called in Wicca btw).
It makes sense that a general spirit of resistance would come from working class Irish and Scottish who sat on the periphery of English Industrializations benefits, and were more easily exploited as cheap labor. And it makes sense that they might latch onto an existing springtime festival as a date for a radical workers holiday. Spring means new birth, perhaps even of a world beyond Capitalism.
Also some important labor movement events happened around that time of year, most famously the Haymarket Affair, Which had a huge impact on the son selection of May 1st.
So I don’t think it’s at all bad that international Workers day, the culture of a historically colonized people, and pagan springtime holidays, both ancient and modern, all coincide and intersect. In fact I think it’s a beautiful thing.
It’s like looking at Pride month, and Juneteenth in the US, and asking why gay people stole June from black people. They didn’t. Two oppressed people groups in the US experienced seismic events in the history of their liberation during that month. And that’s sick as hell!