May Madness – do we all go mad in May?
Some of you may think we are all mad at MAXX – who else sends their clients cows in the post? (click here to see what we are talking about! – or call us to claim your very own “MAXXine” 01635 521224)However, it may possibly just be the time of year! May is often associated with eccentricity and unusual behaviour (and not just in the MAXX offices). Here are some May facts that may just make you smile...
- May is named after the May goddess Maia but the Anglo-Saxon name was Tri-Milchi, due to the fact that the lush new May grass meant that cows could be milked three times a day.
- Eccentric English May customs include the Randbury Wap in the Cotswolds where a Mop Man cavorts through the crowds yielding a wet mop before the villagers dunk their Mayor in the village pond and then all run off and feast on a mountain of cheese!
- Other May activities include the ancient sport of shin-kicking (often practiced in our office during board meetings), cheese rolling (more cheese?!), and Woolsack races where teams of men (and occasionally buxom wenches) race up steep hills carrying 60lb sacks of wool – all in the name of fertility it seems. (We’re surprised they could manage any activity at all after all that cheese!)
- May is often quoted as the time when all our thoughts turn to physical love. Catherine the Great of Russia died on 2 May 1729, not as is often claimed, whilst trying to get overly-friendly with a horse, but of a stroke.
- 29 May is Oak Apple Day where Englishmen traditionally celebrate Charles II’s escape from Cromwellian troops by hiding in an oak tree. Well into the 20th Century those not wearing an oak leaf to mark their allegiance to the crown were pinched, kicked or whipped with nettles. Perhaps this is the opportunity to make your feelings known to someone who has been annoying you? What a good excuse!
- Finally, May is national photographic month, national barbecue month (surely not in UK?!) and national blood pressure month – and if none of those turn you on, in certain US states, 14 May is “Dance like a Chicken” day (yes, it really is!)
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