It's all been happening at the beginning of May. The first four days of the fifth month have been significant culturally and in other ways.
May 1st, May Day and International Workers' Day;
May 2nd, Uprising against Napoleon's occupying forces in Madrid in 1808;
May 3rd, Press Freedom Day;
May 4th, Early May Bank Holiday in the UK (and my dad's birthday).
Maypole dancing in England [Reader's Digest]
May 1st
May Day, is also International Workers' Day, and is a global celebration of workers and the labour movement.
The d
ay is celebrated worldwide, honouring the contributions of workers and advocating for workers' rights, fair wages and safe working conditions.
May Day is also a day for celebration of the arrival of summer with, for example in England, Maypole Dancing and dressing up.
May 1st is a dia festivo in Spain, so schools, banks, offices and businesses close.
In 2026 it was last Friday, resulting in a three-day weekend for many.
[The Olive Press]
May 2nd
The Dos de Mayo or Second of May Uprising took place in Madrid, on 2–3 May 1808. The rebellion, mainly by civilians, with some isolated military action by junior officers, was against the occupation of the city by French troops, and was violently repressed by the Napoleon's French Imperial Forces with hundreds of public executions. These actions led to the Spanish people revolting against French occupation and the outbreak of the Peninsular War, and ended the Franco-Spanish alliance in the Napoleonic Wars.
The event is commemorated in a famous painting by Goya.
[Wikipedia]
May 3rd
May 3rd is World Press Freedom Day.
It is also an important dia festivo in Ronda, where I live.
La Virgen de La Paz is celebrated with Mass, a Procession and a Romeria on the outskirts of town.
[IPI]
May 4th
In 2026 this was the Early May Bank Holiday in the UK, being the nearest Monday to May 1st. In 2029 May 1st falls on a Monday, so the Bank Holiday and May Day will coincide.
May 4th was also the date of my dad's birth.
If he was still around he would have been 109.
As it was he died 41 years ago aged just 68. Way too young. He missed out on so much.
He knew my daughter Amy as an 18-month-old toddler, but didn't know my son Tom, nor four grandsons, a second spouse and my new life in Spain.
Dad as a young man [Paul Whitelock]
© The Culture Vulture (Paul Whitelock) MMXXVI
Photos:
Paul Whitelock, Readers' Digest, The Olive Press, Wikipedia
Thanks:
Paul Whitelock, Wikipedia
Tags:
1808, Dos de Mayo, Early May Bank Holiday, fair wages, Goya, IPI, International Workers' Day, May 1st, May 2nd, May 3rd, May 4th, May Day, Maypole dancing, Napoleon, Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon's French Imperial Forces, Paul Whitelock, Peninsular War, Press Freedom Day, public executions, Readers' Digest, Romeria, Ronda, safe working conditions, Second of May Uprising, The Olive Press, Virgen de La Paz, Wikipedia, workers' rights,