May Day - A Riot of Joy.

Oh Dear! It's May Day again. Time for the anarchists to crawl out of the sewers, holes in the pavement, or wherever else it is they hide.

It's funny to think that at one time, May Day was a day of celebration, joy and dancing. Thankfully, for some it still is! It hasn't entirely been taken over by those bent on causing mayhem.

The celebration was originally a Pagan Festival to mark the end of winter and the beginning of summer. It was called The 'Festival of Flora', the Roman Goddess of Flowers in Celtic Britain, and 'Walpurgis Nacht' in Germany.

It has been around long before Christianity turned it into a religious festival in an attempt to stamp out Pagan practices. Throughout history it has maintained it's celebration status and spread across the world to The Americas, Australia, and even Hawaii.

It was not until 1856 that it turned into Labour Day in Australia as a workers holiday. This idea was also taken up worldwide. Labour Day has a predominance now over the traditional idea of May Day and who is to say that is wrong.

It is a shame however, that during the last twenty years this has been hi-jacked into a day for violent demonstrations in many major cities against the 'Establishment'.

This year both Germany and the U.K. saw large demonstrations by anarchists, who I am sure, are not clear among themselves why they demonstrate. This Pagan Festival of Joy has been twisted into an excuse to throw petrol bombs at police, damage property and generally create destruction.

Why?

I have the impression we have created a culture where the rights of others have little meaning, and these anarchists, though small in number, are a disturbing problem for which there seems to be no answer.

Many are 'professional rioters' whose idea of fun is go out and destroy that which they themselves cannot have, because they get their 'kicks' from confronting the police and all forms of decency that the rest of us take for granted.

I once saw an interview with one of these people, and when asked what sort of society they as a group wanted, there was no intelligent reply, only bluster, because the individual didn't really know what he wanted. It is indeed sad that we as a race have stooped so low as to breed animals like this.

Happy May Day.

Roy.