During a long, cold winter, people all over the world spend the days longing for the fertile days of Spring and Summer. Like all northern races, the people of northern Europe are no strangers to the hardships that come with cold and snow. The natural environment in their countries was beautiful. However, the major flaw was that this part of the world experienced very cold temperatures for almost half of the year. In ancient times, for the whole winter, a village of people would dream of being able to flee from with the four walls of their houses, and run through fields and meadows under a hot sun. Fortunately for them, the Winter was finite, and soon Spring would come. They always celebrated the coming of Spring with a holiday. Their traditional Spring festival usually fell on the first of May, and was called “May Day”.
The different countries had different ways to celebrate this holiday, and the traditions were flexible. Sometimes, federate villages that shared a similar government would celebrate together. Every family would put on new and beautiful summer clothing that they had made during the winter. They wore bright colors to remind themselves of the blue Summer sky and green Summer grasses. The ladies would wear special dresses that they knew would flatter a woman’s figure. The children were allowed to stay home from school. The whole village would gather together and have a huge feast. The village leaders would hold a meeting to discuss what manner of celebration was feasible, and then use the town’s money to finance the buying of special foods. They would feed themselves whatever flavour of dishes people in their country happened to favour most; eating rich meats and whatever vegetables were fresh at that time.
On a flat rock they would build a huge fire, using wood from felled trees, and would warm themselves in the heat. Every flame would remind them of the warmth of the Spring that was coming. In some places, the people would take turns to jump over the fire. Any villager fit enough to try, would first stretch their legs (weak and feeble due to a long winter of inactivity). One by one they would file into a long line, and risk leaping the flames of the fire. The fire would dangerously flash and flare under the people’s feet. Jumping over the fire was thought to bring them luck in the new year. May Day was a happy time, which brought the village people closer together, and filled them with joy.