The month of May is the fifth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar. It has 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, May is a mid-spring month, in the Southern Hemisphere it is a mid-autumn month.

May was the third month in the old Roman calendar and was called Mauis. When Julius Caesar reformed the calendar, he made it the fifth month. There are two principal theories as to the origin of the name. One is that it was meant to honor Rome’s senators, called Maiores. Another is that the name was derived from Greek mythology, from that of Maia, eldest of the Pleiades, the daughters of Atlas. She became identified with a native Italian goddess of growth and the spring season.

Events:

• May 2, 1803 – Louisiana Purchase Treaty signed
• May 5, 1961 – First American sent into space
• May 8, 1945 – V-E (Victory in Europe) Day
• May 12, 1907 – Mother’s Day first observed
• May 14, 1607 – Jamestown, Virginia, first permanent English colony in America
• May 30, 1431 – Joan of Arc, French heroin burned at the stake
• May 30, 1868 – Memorial Day first observed nationwide

Birthstone or Gemstone: Emerald

Flowers: Lily of the valley & Hawthorn

Holidays: May Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Mother’s Day

Personalities born on this month:

• May 5, 1818 – Karl Marx, German political and economic philosopher
• May 6, 1856 – Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychoanalyst
• May 7, 1833 – Johannes Brahms, German composer
• May 7 1840 – Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer
• May 8, 1884 – Harry S. Truman, 33rd US President
• May 12, 1820 – Florence Nightingale, English nurse
• May 22, 1813 – Richard Wagner, German composer
• May 24, 1819 – Queen Victoria of Great Britain
• May 29, 1736 – Patrick Henry, American patriot
• May 29, 1917 – John F. Kennedy, 35th US President
• May 31, 1819 – Walt Whitman, American poet

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