May Day versus Mayday

May begins and ends with a bank holiday, which is always rather nice, and with the spring well established now, and as we look towards the summer, we might hope that the bank holidays won’t disappoint us and will produce some good weather, perhaps even giving us the opportunity for a BBQ or family picnic.

May Day, is a day full of traditions, most of which seem to have been lost in time, although we might catch of glimpse of some Morris dancers, or even get the chance to join in some Maypole dancing, something they are hoping to revive this year, in The Crown in Wormingford, if they can find a suitable Maypole!

But as I was thinking about May Day, I was reminded that Mayday, is also used internationally as a distress signal, particularly amongst aviators and mariners. It was apparently conceived as a distress call in the early 1920’s by Frederick Stanley Mockford, officer-in-charge of radio at Croydon Airport. He had been asked to think of a word that would indicate distress and would be easily understood by all pilots and ground staff in an emergency. Since much of the air traffic at the time was between Croydon and Le Bourget Airport in Paris, he proposed the term ‘Mayday’, the phonetic equivalent of the French m’aider, a short form of venez m’aider, come, help me!

The spring bank holiday which falls on the last Monday of May, still gets referred to as Whitsun bank holiday by some, although it lost this status in 1972. Prior to 1972 it was moveable, always falling on the first Monday after Pentecost when we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit. Before Jesus ascended into heaven after the resurrection, he spoke a lot about the coming Holy Spirit, using different terms including the counsellor, comforter and helper.

In our spiritual lives, how comforting to know that when we are in distress, we can send out our mayday and know that the Helper, the Holy Spirit will come.

So as you enjoy the May bank holidays, remember that God hears our Maydays.

May God bless you

Heather