What is May Day?

May 2, 2007

May Day was yesterday. I’m on my fourteenth month in Albania, I now have two May Day experiences under my belt, but I have no idea what this day is. I’ve been told that Americans have a May Day as well. Is this really true? I have no memory of anything called May Day.

My 2007 May Day followed the standard pattern of most of my days. I sat at café for a few hours, watched people go by and then sat some more. There was at one point a Man Dance sighting in the center of town. In my experience the Man Dance is reserved for weddings and Christmas parties – though it has snuck up on me in what seemed like quiet cafés –a public staging of the Man Dance had to have been in recognition of May Day.

To describe the Man Dance……..Well, it’s never planned, it doesn’t have moves or steps per se, but all Albanian Man Dances have a similar look. That is, a group of men – it could be one guy or seventy – start with a little clapping, the clapping escalates and is then replaced by some twirling around – the guys can be pretty light on their feet – more clapping, the formation of the Man Dance circle, more twirling, clapping and three and half days later the Man Dance might be over.

There are variations, some guys are truly well-practiced Man Dancers, but there is always clapping, twirling around and Man Circles. There is of course a Woman Dance and a Co-Ed Dance. These are the same idea, with either no men or men encircling the women with their Man Dance. It’s truly majestic.