Editing May Day (section)

=== Greece ===
{{unsourced section|date=May 2025}}
1 May is a day that celebrates Spring.

Maios (Latin [[Maius]]), the month of May, took its name from the goddess [[Maia]] (Gr {{lang|grc|Μαία, the nurse}}), a Greek and Roman goddess of fertility. The day of Maios (Modern Greek Πρωτομαγιά) celebrates the final victory of the summer against winter as the victory of life against death. The celebration is similar to an ancient ritual associated with another minor demi-god [[Adonis]] which also celebrated the revival of nature. There is today some conflation with yet another tradition, the revival or marriage of [[Dionysus]] (the Greek God of theatre and wine-making). This event, however, was celebrated in ancient times not in May but in association with the [[Anthesteria]], a festival held in February and dedicated to the goddess of agriculture [[Demeter]] and her daughter [[Persephone]]. [[Persephone]] emerged every year at the end of winter from the Underworld. The Anthesteria was a festival of souls, plants and flowers, and Persephone's coming to earth from [[Hades]] marked the rebirth of nature, a common theme in all these traditions.

What remains of the customs today, echoes these traditions of antiquity. A common, until recently, May Day custom involved the annual revival of a youth called [[Adonis]], or alternatively of [[Dionysus]], or of [[Maius|Maios]] (in Modern Greek Μαγιόπουλο, the Son of [[Maia]]). In a simple theatrical ritual, the significance of which has long been forgotten, a chorus of young girls sang a song over a youth lying on the ground, representing [[Adonis]], [[Dionysus]] or [[Maius|Maios]]. At the end of the song, the youth rose up and a flower wreath was placed on his head.

The most common aspect of modern May Day celebrations is the preparation of a flower wreath from wild flowers, although as a result of urbanisation there is an increasing trend to buy wreaths from flower shops. The flowers are placed on the wreath against a background of green leaves and the wreath is hung either on the entrance to the family house/apartment or on a balcony. It remains there until midsummer night. On that night, the flower wreaths are set alight in bonfires known as [[Saint John's Eve|Saint John's fires]]. Youths leap over the flames consuming the flower wreaths. This custom has also practically disappeared, like the theatrical revival of Adonis/Dionysus/Maios, as a result of rising urban traffic and with no alternative public grounds in most Greek city neighbourhoods.