May
Day is related to the Celtic festival of Beltane and the Germanic
festival of Walpurgis Night. May Day falls exactly half of a year from
November 1, another cross-quarter day which is also associated with
various northern European pagan and neopagan festivals such as Samhain.
May Day marks the end of the uncomfortable winter half of the year in
the Northern hemisphere, and it has traditionally been an occasion for
popular and often raucous celebrations, regardless of the locally
prevalent political or religious establishment.
As
Europe became Christianized the pagan holidays lost their religious
character and either changed into popular secular celebrations, as with
May Day, or were merged with or replaced by new Christian holidays as
with Christmas, Easter, and All Saint's Day. In the twentieth century,
many neopagans began reconstructing the old traditions and celebrating
May Day as a pagan religious festival again.
May 1, 2009, May Day
May 1, 2009, Release of Battle for Terra
May 1, 2009, Release of X-Men Wolverine: Origins
May 1, 2009, Fiat announces partnership in purchasing Chrysler.
May 1, 2009, The Pakistani Army kills approximately 60 Taliban militants during Operation Black Thunder. (France24)
May 1, 2009, The man who attacked the Netherlands' Royal Family on Queen's Day dies. (RTÉ)
May 1, 2009, Carol Ann Duffy becomes the United Kingdom's first female Poet Laureate. (New York Times)
A Poet Laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for State occasions and other government events. In the United Kingdom the term has for centuries been the title of the official poet of the monarch, since the time of Charles II. Poets laureate are appointed by many countries. In Britain there is also a Children's Laureate and in the United States there is a Student Poet Laureate.
May 2, 2009, The Dark horse Mine That Bird wins the 135th Kentucky Derby. (New York Times)
May 2, 2009, The United Nations orders Israel to stop evicting Palestinians from East Jerusalem. (Al Jazeera) .
May 2, 2009, The bulk carrier MV Ariana is hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. (Bloomberg)
May 3, 2009, Iraq will not extend the deadline for the United States Armed Forces to withdraw from the Iraq War. (Reuters)
May 1, 2009, The Pakistani Army kills approximately 60 Taliban militants during Operation Black Thunder. (France24)
May 1, 2009, The man who attacked the Netherlands' Royal Family on Queen's Day dies. (RTÉ)
May 1, 2009, Carol Ann Duffy becomes the United Kingdom's first female Poet Laureate. (New York Times)
A Poet Laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for State occasions and other government events. In the United Kingdom the term has for centuries been the title of the official poet of the monarch, since the time of Charles II. Poets laureate are appointed by many countries. In Britain there is also a Children's Laureate and in the United States there is a Student Poet Laureate.
May 2, 2009, The Dark horse Mine That Bird wins the 135th Kentucky Derby. (New York Times)
May 2, 2009, The United Nations orders Israel to stop evicting Palestinians from East Jerusalem. (Al Jazeera) .
May 2, 2009, The bulk carrier MV Ariana is hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. (Bloomberg)
May 3, 2009, Iraq will not extend the deadline for the United States Armed Forces to withdraw from the Iraq War. (Reuters)
May 4, 2009, World Richest have "secret" meeting.(ABC)
May 5, 2009, Release of Cracker Album: Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey
May 5, 2009, Release of Ciara Album: Fantasy Ride
May 6, 2009, The "Bigfoot" Hobbit could be ancient Island human. (Link)
May 6, 2009, The United States Supervisory Capital Assessment Program finds that financial services companies JPMorgan Chase, and American Express do not need more capital from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. (MarketWatch)
May 6, 2009, Somali pirates hijack Germany's MV Victoria and release the United Arab Emirates' MV Al Meezan. (Bloomberg)
May 7, 2009, Release of Star Trek
May 7, 2009, The private military company Xe (formerly Blackwater Worldwide) ends its operations in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP via Google News).
May 7, 2009, General Motors reports a US$6 billion loss for the first fiscal quarter of 2009.(AP via the Wall Street Journal).
May 7, 2009, A fire at a casino kills ten people and injures ten others in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. (BBC)
May 7, 2009, Wildfires near Santa Barbara, California, United States, burn 3,000 acres of land and force 15,000 people to evacuate. (BBC)
May 7, 2009, The Central Bank reduces the Eurozone's interest rate to 1% and implements €60 billion of quantitative easing. (BBC)
May 7, 2009, The Bank of England freezes interest rates at 0.5% and will implement £50 billion of quantitative easing. (BBC)
May 7, 2009, Somali pirates hijack the Netherlands' MV Marathon and attack the U.S. Navy cargo ship Lewis and Clark. (Reuters)
May 8, 2009, Trekkie in Chief Barak wants a screening of new Star Trek Film.(Yahoo)
May 8, 2009, Thunderstorms throughout the Midwestern United States kill five people. (New York Times)
May 8, 2009, Louis Caldera resigns as Director of the White House Military Office after Air Force One Photo Op. (New York Times)
May 8, 2009, Wildfires cause at least 30,000 people to evacuate Santa Barbara, California, United States. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
May 8, 2009, A cave-in at a gold mine in Siguiri, Guinea, kills 20 people, injures five more, and renders ten others missing. (BBC)
May 8, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI begins his tour of Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. (BBC)
May 10, 2009,
The Great Orangutan Escape, Karta, a 27-year-old female, jammed a stick
into wires connected to the barrier, then piled up shrubs, roots and
debris to create a platform. Using it as a stepladder, she climbed up
onto the concrete and glass wall surrounding her enclosure, where she
was spotted by a member of the public who raised the alarm.Link
May 11, 2009, Six people are injured as an elevator collapses inside Tower Bridge in London, England. (The Times)
May 11, 2009, An Iranian appellate court releases imprisoned American journalist Roxana Saberi. (BBC)
May 11, 2009, A United States Army soldier kills five comrades at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq. (Sky News)
May 11, 2009, STS-125, the Space Shuttle Atlantis will conduct the last servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.
May 12, 2009, Season Finale of Fringe " There more then One of Everything".
May 12, 2009, Suspected Nazi death-camp officer John Demjanjuk arrives in Munich, Germany, to begin his trial. (New York Times)
May 12, 2009, The United States obtains its first seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council. (BBC)
May 13, 2009, Season Finale of Lost "The Incident"
May 13, 2009, United States President Barack Obama proclaims May 2009 as Jewish American Heritage Month. (White House)
May 13, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI advocates the creation of a Palestinian state. (BBC)
May 13, 2009, The European Commission fines Intel Corporation €1.06 billion for anti-competitive practices. (BBC)
May 13, 2009, The United Nations reports that Somalia is experiencing its worst drought since the 1990s. (BBC)
May 14, 2009, Chrysler terminates 789 dealerships throughout the United States. (Detroit Free Press)
May 14, 2009, North Korea announces it will try arrested American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling on June 4. (Reuters)
May 14, 2009, The South Korean Navy destroyer Mummu the Great and the U.S. Navy cruiser Gettysburg capture 17 suspected Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. (CNN)
May 14, 2009, Rumors of a Wedding between Madonna and her Brazlian boyfriend Jesus.(DailyUk).
May 15, 2009, Release of Angels and Demons(Wiki).
May 15, 2009, Season Finale of Prison Break "Killing Your Number"
May 15, 2009, Former fundamentalist "debunks" Bible.(CNN)
May 15, 2009, General Motors will terminate 1,100 dealerships in the United States by October 2010. (CBS)
May 15, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama will resume military tribunals for detainees at Guantánamo Bay. (BBC)
May 16, 2009, Ruth Padel becomes the University of Oxford's first female Professor of Poetry. (The Irish Times)
May 16, 2009, Manchester United Football Club win the Premier League. (AFP via The Australian)
May 16, 2009, Primate Fossil Could Be Key Link in Evolution.
Scientists say a 47-million-year-old fossil found in Germany may be a key link to explain the evolution of modern human beings.
The fossil, of a young female that probably resembled a modern-day lemur, is described as "the most complete primate fossil ever found." It is small -- with a body about the size of a raccoon -- but it has characteristics that suggest a relationship both to primates and humans.
It has, among other things, opposable thumbs, similar to humans' and unlike those found on other modern mammals. It has fingernails instead of claws. And scientists say they believe there is evidence it was able to walk on its hind legs.(Link)
May 16, 2009, Rachel Alexandra wins the Preakness Stakes. (The New York Times).
May 16, 2009, President Mahinda Rajapaksa says that Sri Lanka has militarily won the civil war against the Tamil Tigers. (MSNBC)
May 16, 2009, An acid attack injures 30 people in Hong Kong, People's Republic of China. (BBC)
May 17, 2009, An earthquake shakes Los Angeles, the US Geological Survey confirms. (Sky News)
May 18, 2009, Mission Control uploads Star Trek to ISS.(MSNBC).
May 18, 2009, Somalia requests international assistance to establish an anti-piracy coast guard. (BBC)
May 18, 2009, The European Commission's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, is evacuated because of a fire. (RTÉ)
May 18, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama urges Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a Palestinian state. (BBC)
May 18, 2009, Former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is accused of quoting the Bible while briefing then-President George W. Bush. (BBC)
May 19, 2009, Series Premiere of Glee
May 19, 2009, Release of Eminem album Relapse
May 19, 2009, Offical: A 47-million-year-old skeleton of a lemur species, Darwinius masillae, is discovered in Germany. (Sky News).
May 20, 2009, Dark Horse Kris Allens win American Idol.(Rueters).
May 20, 2009, An Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft crashes in Java, Indonesia, killing at least 98 people. (Reuters)
May 20, 2009, Ireland's Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse concludes that the Roman Catholic Church and the Department of Education and Science knew sexual abuse was "endemic" in boys’ institutions. (RTÉ)
May 21, 2009, Release of Terminator: Salvation(Wiki).
May 15, 2009, Former fundamentalist "debunks" Bible.(CNN)
May 15, 2009, General Motors will terminate 1,100 dealerships in the United States by October 2010. (CBS)
May 15, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama will resume military tribunals for detainees at Guantánamo Bay. (BBC)
May 16, 2009, Ruth Padel becomes the University of Oxford's first female Professor of Poetry. (The Irish Times)
May 16, 2009, Manchester United Football Club win the Premier League. (AFP via The Australian)
May 16, 2009, Primate Fossil Could Be Key Link in Evolution.
Scientists say a 47-million-year-old fossil found in Germany may be a key link to explain the evolution of modern human beings.
The fossil, of a young female that probably resembled a modern-day lemur, is described as "the most complete primate fossil ever found." It is small -- with a body about the size of a raccoon -- but it has characteristics that suggest a relationship both to primates and humans.
It has, among other things, opposable thumbs, similar to humans' and unlike those found on other modern mammals. It has fingernails instead of claws. And scientists say they believe there is evidence it was able to walk on its hind legs.(Link)
May 16, 2009, Rachel Alexandra wins the Preakness Stakes. (The New York Times).
May 16, 2009, President Mahinda Rajapaksa says that Sri Lanka has militarily won the civil war against the Tamil Tigers. (MSNBC)
May 16, 2009, An acid attack injures 30 people in Hong Kong, People's Republic of China. (BBC)
May 17, 2009, An earthquake shakes Los Angeles, the US Geological Survey confirms. (Sky News)
May 18, 2009, Mission Control uploads Star Trek to ISS.(MSNBC).
May 18, 2009, Somalia requests international assistance to establish an anti-piracy coast guard. (BBC)
May 18, 2009, The European Commission's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, is evacuated because of a fire. (RTÉ)
May 18, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama urges Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a Palestinian state. (BBC)
May 18, 2009, Former United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is accused of quoting the Bible while briefing then-President George W. Bush. (BBC)
May 19, 2009, Series Premiere of Glee
May 19, 2009, Release of Eminem album Relapse
May 19, 2009, Offical: A 47-million-year-old skeleton of a lemur species, Darwinius masillae, is discovered in Germany. (Sky News).
May 20, 2009, Dark Horse Kris Allens win American Idol.(Rueters).
May 20, 2009, An Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft crashes in Java, Indonesia, killing at least 98 people. (Reuters)
May 20, 2009, Ireland's Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse concludes that the Roman Catholic Church and the Department of Education and Science knew sexual abuse was "endemic" in boys’ institutions. (RTÉ)
May 21, 2009, Release of Terminator: Salvation(Wiki).
May 21, 2009, The U.S. develops a framework to provide the United Arab Emirates with nuclear energy. (White House).
May 21, 2009, Four men are arrested for planning to bomb two synagogues and destroy military aircraft in New York, United States. (Sky News)
May 21, 2009, Egyptian businessman Hisham Talaat Moustafa is convicted of murdering Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim. (CNN)
May 22, 2009, Release of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.
May 22, 2009, A 5.7-magnitude earthquake strikes Chiautla de Tapia, Puebla, Mexico.(USGS)
May 23, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama nominates former astronaut Charles F. Bolden, Jr. as NASA administrator. (Los Angeles Times
May 24,2009, Helios Castroneves wins Indy 500
May 24,2009, Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon wins the Palme d'Or (Palm/Phoenix) at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. (The Guardian).
May 24, 2009, Series Finale of Prison Break: The Final Break
This direct-to-DVD episode consists of the two episodes from season four ('The Old Ball and Chain' and 'Free') that were not aired in America, in one 88-minute feature. The Final Break continues from the season four series finale
May 24,2009, Space Shuttle Atlantis lands at Edwards Air Force Base after completing the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.(NASA)
May 25, 2009, Release of The Link.(History)
May 25, 2009, Release of Phoenix Album: Wolfgang Amadues Phoenix.
May 25, 2009, Nine United Kingdom Cabinet ministers have been implicated in Parliament's expenses scandal. (RTÉ)
May 25, 2009, North Korea conducts its second nuclear test. (ABC News Australia).
May 26, 2009, Series Premeire of Mental
May 26, 2009, President Barack Obama nominates Federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the United States Supreme Court. (AP via Yahoo)
May 26, 2009, North Korea tests two more missiles.(BBC)
May 26, 2009, Mike Tyson's daughter Exodus dies after treadmill accident in Phoenix Arizona.
May 27, 2009, Glowing monkeys to aid research.(BBC).
May 27, 2009, Series Premiere of The Goode Family
May 21, 2009, Four men are arrested for planning to bomb two synagogues and destroy military aircraft in New York, United States. (Sky News)
May 21, 2009, Egyptian businessman Hisham Talaat Moustafa is convicted of murdering Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim. (CNN)
May 22, 2009, Release of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.
May 22, 2009, A 5.7-magnitude earthquake strikes Chiautla de Tapia, Puebla, Mexico.(USGS)
May 23, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama nominates former astronaut Charles F. Bolden, Jr. as NASA administrator. (Los Angeles Times
May 24,2009, Helios Castroneves wins Indy 500
May 24,2009, Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon wins the Palme d'Or (Palm/Phoenix) at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. (The Guardian).
May 24, 2009, Series Finale of Prison Break: The Final Break
This direct-to-DVD episode consists of the two episodes from season four ('The Old Ball and Chain' and 'Free') that were not aired in America, in one 88-minute feature. The Final Break continues from the season four series finale
May 24,2009, Space Shuttle Atlantis lands at Edwards Air Force Base after completing the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.(NASA)
May 25, 2009, Release of The Link.(History)
May 25, 2009, Release of Phoenix Album: Wolfgang Amadues Phoenix.
May 25, 2009, Nine United Kingdom Cabinet ministers have been implicated in Parliament's expenses scandal. (RTÉ)
May 25, 2009, North Korea conducts its second nuclear test. (ABC News Australia).
May 26, 2009, Series Premeire of Mental
May 26, 2009, President Barack Obama nominates Federal Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the United States Supreme Court. (AP via Yahoo)
May 26, 2009, North Korea tests two more missiles.(BBC)
May 26, 2009, Mike Tyson's daughter Exodus dies after treadmill accident in Phoenix Arizona.
May 27, 2009, Glowing monkeys to aid research.(BBC).
May 27, 2009, Series Premiere of The Goode Family
May 27, 2009, FC Barcelona defeats Manchester United F.C. to win the 2008-09 UEFA Champions League Final.(CNN)
May 27, 2009, North Korea launches its fifth missile since testing a nuclear weapon on May 25.(Sky News)
May 27, 2009, Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies purchases 1.96% of the social network service Facebook.(New York Times)
May 27, 2009, Russia will supply US$1 billion of uranium to civilian nuclear reactors in the United States.(CNN)
May 27, 2009, United States President Barack Obama nominates Hispanic Roman Catholic theologian Miguel H. Diaz as United States Ambassador to the Holy See.(AP via Google News).
May 28, 2009, General Motors asks Germany to indebt its subsidiary automakers Opel and Vauxhall Motors.(Times Online).
May 28, 2009, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reaffirms President Barack Obama's demand that Israel halt settlement in the West Bank.(BBC)
May 28, 2009, A 7.1-magnitude earthquake occurs in the Gulf of Honduras.(BBC)
May 28, 2009, The United States and South Korea increase their alert states after North Korea disregards the armistice that halted the Korean War in 1953.(BBC)
May 28, 2009, South Korean and US troops boost alert levels after the renegade North Korea regime threaten military strikes.(Sky News)
May 28, 2009, Time Warner announced that it will spin off the whole of its AOL internet business by the end of the year.(Time Warner website).
May 29, 2009, Release of Up.
May 29, 2009, Release of Drag me to Hell.
May 29, 2009, Pat Kenny presents his last ever edition of The Late Late Show, the world's longest-running chat show. (BBC)
May 29, 2009, Kavya Shivashankar wins the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington.(ABC News)
May 29, 2009, The United States Department of Defense will create a computer-security military command. (New York Times)
May 29, 2009, North Korea fires a short-range missile off its east coast. (RTÉ)
May 29, 2009, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd condemns North Korea's missile tests at an annual meeting of Asian defence ministers. (The Irish Times)
May 29, 2009, Soyuz TMA-15 docks with the International Space Station, marking the start of Expedition 20 and the first permanent crew of six aboard the station. (BBC)
May 29, 2009, The Irish government announces its intention to seek EU approval to further recapitalise Anglo Irish Bank by €4 billion. (The Irish Times)
May 29, 2009, Jay Leno final episode of Tonight show.
May 29, 2009, Prince Harry travels to New York.(Telegraph)
May 30, 2009, Germany allows Canadian company Magna International to take over automaker Opel. (BBC)
May 30, 2009, North Korea launches its sixth ballistic missile despite the United Nations Security Council's possible international sanctions. (AFP via News Limited)
May 31, 2009, Obama Travels to New York; during Manhattanhenge.(Space)
May 31, 2009, Russian cyclist Denis Menchov wins the 2009 Giro d'Italia in Rome, Italy. (New York Times)
May 31, 2009, Millvina Dean, the last survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, dies at the age of 97. (BBC)
May 31, 2009, Late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller is shot and killed in Wichita, Kansas, United States. (The Wichita Eagle)
May 31, 2009, A man steals €6 million in jewellery from Chopard in Paris, France. (BBC)
May 31, 2009, (ABC)
May 31, 2009, Twilight wins Best Movie in the 2009 MTV Movie Awards.
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