Sweeps Festivals
The London boys had one day's holiday a year, the first of May, (Mayday) International Labour Day. They celebrated by parading through the streets, dancing and twisting with Jack in the Green, merging several folk traditions. There is also a Sweeps Festival in Santa Maria Maggiore, in Italy and in Rochester in Kent where the tradition was revived in 1980.
Read more about this topic: Chimney Sweep
Famous quotes containing the words sweeps and/or festivals:
“The main effect of a real revolution is perhaps that it sweeps away those who do not know how to wish, and brings to the front men with insatiable appetites for action, power and all that the world has to offer.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“Why wont they let a year die without bringing in a new one on the instant, cant they use birth control on time? I want an interregnum. The stupid years patter on with unrelenting feet, never stopping—rising to little monotonous peaks in our imaginations at festivals like New Year’s and Easter and Christmas—But, goodness, why need they do it?”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)