Editing May Day (section)

==Iberia==
=== Portugal ===
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"Maias" is a superstition throughout Portugal, with special focus on the northern territories and rarely elsewhere. Maias is the dominant naming in Northern Portugal, but it may be referred to by other names, including Dia das Bruxas (Witches' day), O Burro (the Donkey, referring to an evil spirit) or the last of April, as the local traditions preserved to this day occur on that evening only. People put the yellow flowers of [[Cytisus striatus|broom]], the bushes are known as giestas. The flowers of the bush are known as Maias, which are placed on doors or gates and every doorway of houses, windows, granaries, currently also cars, which the populace collect on the evening of 30 April when the Portuguese brooms are blooming, to defend those places from bad spirits, witches and the evil eye. The placement of the May flower or bush in the doorway must be done before midnight.

These festivities are a continuum of the "Os Maios" of Galiza. In ancient times, this was done while playing traditional night-music. In some places, children were dressed in these flowers and went from place to place begging for money or bread. On 1 May, people also used to sing "Cantigas de Maio", traditional songs related to this day and the whole month of May.

The origin of this tradition can be traced to the Catholic Church story of Mary and Joseph fleeing to Egypt to protect Jesus from Herod. It was said that brooms could be found at the door of the house holding Jesus, but when Herod's soldiers arrived to the place they found every door decorated with brooms.

=== Spain ===
May Day is celebrated throughout the country as ''Los Mayos'' (lit. "the Mays") often in a similar way to "[[Fiesta de las Cruces]]" in many parts of Hispanic America. One such example, in [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]], is the festival "[[:es:Fiesta de los mayos (Galicia)|Fiesta de los Mayos]]" (or "Festa dos Maios" in [[Galician language|Galician]], the local language). It has a Celtic origin (from the festivity of Beltane)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.elcorreogallego.es/hemeroteca/1-mayo-dia-beltane-LPCG929561|title=1 de mayo, Día del Beltane|website=elcorreogallego.es}}</ref> and consists of different traditions, such as representations around a decorated tree or sculpture. People sing popular songs (also called ''maios'',) making mentions of social and political events during the past year, sometimes under the form of a converse, while they walk around the sculpture with the percussion of two sticks. In [[Lugo]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lugopatrimonio.org/index.php/multimedia/videos/item/1976-maioslugo/1976-maioslugo|title=Festa dos Maios en Lugo}}</ref> and in the village of [[Vilagarcía de Arousa]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.vilagarcia.es/turismo/galego/7_as_festas/maios.asp |title=turismo01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518075810/http://www.vilagarcia.es/turismo/galego/7_as_festas/maios.asp |archive-date=18 May 2015 |access-date=7 May 2015 }}</ref> it was usual to ask a tip to the attendees, which used to be a handful of dry chestnuts (''castañas maiolas''), walnuts or hazelnuts. Today the tradition became a competition where the best sculptures and songs receive a prize.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.farodevigo.es/portada-arousa/2015/04/17/festa-maios-contara-mil-euros/1221981.html |title=La Festa dos Maios contará con más de mil euros en premios |last=Faro de Vigo |date=17 April 2015}}</ref>

In the Galician city of [[Ourense]], this day is celebrated traditionally on 3 May, the day of the Holy Cross, that in the Christian tradition replaced the tree "where the health, life and resurrection are," according to the introit of that day's mass.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://friarssermon.blogspot.de/2009/05/dia-de-la-santa-cruz.html |title=Sermón Dominical |last=Viva Cristo Rey|date=2 May 2009 }}</ref>