Friday 1 May 2020

May Day

 A public holiday, usually,  a day for picnics and kite flying.

It has been postponed officially till the first Monday after lockdown is over. No one today is allowed to drive outside their immediate neighbourhood, shops are closed, gatherings not allowed and social distancing a priority.

However in the centre of Athens and other big cities workers, activists are still gathering for their usual May Day march and protest. They are all standing 2 metres apart, at the moment, are wearing red masks and waving red flags. Down with capitalism, 



My daughter made a posy of bright cheerful flowers for her front door...... this is a photo taken at dusk and hence is a bit dusky


On May day Eve it is a tradition to gather wild flowers and make them into a wreath to hang on the door or gate.

I shall make ours today. After my coffee I shall send an SMS, get my permission to leave the house and go for a walk to see what I can gather.



There were plenty of flowers and greenery in our garden so I didn't have to go far.
This posy is for our front gate.
Rosemary, oregano, geraniums, a lemon branch and a rose


A wreathe of lemon branches, rose geranium, a bright yellow nasturtium which is hiding behind the lemon leaves and a few roses



20 comments:

  1. aMay Day at a catholic school was always a celebration of the Virgin Mary and a parade in the school grounds carrying her statue and all of us carrying flowers. In fact the whole month is celebrating Mary. Do you have that?

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    1. No, Rachel, we don't which seems odd now you've mentioned your May at a Catholic school. There is one fiesta on the 12th but it is a local church only.

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  2. That is a rather lovely tradition, to hang beautiful wild flowers on doors and gates. Simple but quite uplifting.

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    1. Everyone, young and old is out gathering flowers, making wreaths and garlands. It's a lovely sunny day for it

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  3. Love the wreath. Does the lemon branch give off a Citrus aroma. I have some perfumed Geraniums. We planted a little lemon and a orange tree in the polytunnel yesterday. Bought it at the German garden centre.

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    1. The lemon branch is aromatic, slightly lemony I would say. The rose geraniums have even more of a scent. They are used to make a liqueur.
      I should have used a grapefruit branch. The grapefruit is full of really strong smelling flowers just now. Delicious

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  4. The flowers sound like a sweet tradition to follow, especially being scented like that.

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    1. We have a lot of aromatic herbs and a few flowers just now. I didn't add any lavender or thyme. It's a nice and rustic wreath and posy. As it should be today

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  5. "Down With Capitalism!!!" LOLLLLLLLL

    After all this time, they still "love" Communism? Even after The Totalitarian Communist Government of China, gave the World, this "COVIG-19" Horror?!?

    Goes to show their lack of mental ability.
    -smirk-

    Hey, I only said this, because you posted about it. I'm sure you are not promoting it. lol

    Lovely May Day posies tradition.

    "Tra la, it's May"
    🌱🌸🌱😊🌱🌸🌱

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    1. The Communist party takes part in all these protests so the slogans are sure to be against capitalism .

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  6. So you're going into Spring while we're in Autumn, but I love the flowers they seem to brighten life up.

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    1. We finally have loads of colour . Soon everything will be dry as dust, except for the geraniums

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  7. The flowers are a lovely tradition. I managed to pick a pretty vase of flowers yesterday - not much left in the garden now.

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  8. Here we give each other sprigs of Lily of the Valley.

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  9. Here in Piraeus the tradition seems to extend far beyond 'wild' flowers to anything the marauding hordes can reach. The small community garden in front of our apartment was comprehensively trashed and stripped of everything except the NZ Spinach and the oleander by people getting out of cars (so clearly not the locals who have invested time and effort in creating something colourful for our neighbourhood) - poppies, calendula, gazanias, geraniums - even nasturtiums. And when all flowers were gone they started pulling the foliage off the coleus.

    Not a happy May Day for us then. Deep Blue Funk - locked indoors watching people who simply DGaD, tearing up our work.

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    1. I'm sorry to hear that. When we lived in Piraeus if we couldn't go on a day trip to Aegina or even up to Kifisia we bought a bunch of flowers.
      None of that was possible ...but ...
      sorry to hear about the vandalism. They should have all stayed at bloody home!

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