Monthly Almanac Page
May 2012

May  is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars and one of seven months with the length of 31 days.
May is a month of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere and spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Therefore May in the Southern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent of November in the Northern Hemisphere and vice versa.
No other month begins or ends on the same day of the week as May in any year.
The month May was named for the Greek goddess Maia, who was identified with the Roman era goddess of fertility, Bona Dea, whose festival was held in May.
 

May 1st
Sunrise 5:38 A.M.
Sunset 7:44 P.M.
14 hours 6 minutes of daylight

May 31st
Sunrise 5:10 A.M.
Sunset 8:14 P.M.
15 hours 4 minutes of daylight

Average predicted precipitation 3 inches (2 inches above average)
Average temperature 56.5 degrees (5 degrees below average)

May 5th Full moon

IMPORTANT MAY EVENTS

• Empire State Building opened May 1, 1931.
• Hudson's Bay Company chartered May 2, 1670.
• Catherine the Great of Russia born May 2, 1729.
• Niccolo Machiavelli, author of The Prince, born May 3,1469.
• First U.S. medical school opened in Philadelphia, May 3, 1765.
• Karl Marx, author of Das Kapital, born May 5, 1818.
• Napoleon died on St. Helena, May 5, 1821.
• Mexicans defeated French at Puebla, May 5, 1862.
• Memorial Day first observed, May 5, 1866.
• First postage stamp issued in England May 6, 1840
• Robert E. Peary, American Arctic explorer, born May 6, 1856.
• Robert Browning, English poet, born May 7, 1812.
• Composer Johannes Brahms born May 7, 1833.
• Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer, born May 7, 1840.
• A German submarine sank the passenger liner Lusitania in World War I, May 7, 1915.
• Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States, was born in Lamar, Mo., May 8, 1884.
• John Brown, American abolitionist, born May 9, 1800.
• Sir James Barrie, Scottish author, born May 9, 1860.
• Mother's Day became a public holiday, May 9, 1914.
• First transcontinental railway completed in Promontory, Utah, May 10, 1869.
• Minnesota admitted to the Union May 11, 1858.
• Irving Berlin, American songwriter, born May 11,1888.
  Rosemary Clooney sings the music of Irving Berlin
  White Christmas by Irving Berlin
  Irving Berlin's America-Sheet Music
• King Gustavus I of Sweden born May 12, 1496.
• Edward Lear, English writer and artist, born May 12, 1812.
• Florence Nightingale, English nurse, born May 12, 1820.
• Roald Amundsen flew over the North Pole, May 12, 1926.
• Austrian Empress Maria Theresa born May 13, 1717.
• Sir Arthur Sullivan, English composer, born May 13, 1842.
• United States declared war on Mexico May 13, 1846.
• Gabriel Fahrenheit, German physicist, born May 14, 1686.
• Robert Owen, social reformer, born May 14, 1771.
• Edward Jenner, a British physician, performed the first vaccination against smallpox in May 14, 1796.
• Lewis and Clark began trip up Missouri River, May 14, 1804.
• Israel became an independent country as the last British troops left Palestine, May 14, 1948.
• Pierre Curie, codiscoverer of radium, born May 15,1859.
• U.S. began first regular airmail service May 15, 1918.
• William Seward, American statesman who arranged the purchase of Alaska, born May 16, 1801.
• John Hopkins, American philanthropist, born May 19, 1795.
• Homestead Act signed by President Abraham Lincoln, May 20, 1862.
• Amelia Earhart began the first solo flight by a woman across the Atlantic Ocean May 20, 1932.
• Albrecht Durer, German engraver, born May 21, 1471.
• Alexander Pope, English poet, born May 21, 1688.
• First Democratic National Convention held May 21, 1832.
• Clara Barton founded what became the American Red Cross May 21, 1881.
• Charles Lindbergh finished first translantic solo flight May 21, 1927.
• Richard Wagner, German composer, born May 22,1813.
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, British author and creator of Sherlock Holmes, born May 22, 1859.Buy Books by and about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Laurence Olivier, British actor, born May 22, 1907.
• South Carolina became the eighth state May 23, 1788
• First permanent English settlement in America established in Jamestown, VA., May 24, 1607.
• Brooklyn Bridge opened to traffic, May 24, 1883.
• Constitutional Convention opened in Philadelphia with George Washington as president, May 25, 1787.
• Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist and poet, born May 25, 1803.
• Julia Ward Howe, American poet who wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", born May 27, 1819.
• Jay Gould, American financier, born May 27, 1836.
• Isadora Duncan, American dancer, born may 27, 1878.
• Golden Gate Bridge opened at San Francisco May 27, 1937.
• Patrick Henry, American statesman and orator, born May 29, 1736.
• Rhode Island ratified the Constitution, becoming the 13th state, May 29, 1790.
• Wisconsin became the 30th state, May 29, 1848.
• John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, born in Brookline, Mass, May 29, 1917.
• Christopher Columbus began his third voyage May 30, 1498.
• U.S. Copyright law enacted May 31, 1790.
• Walt Whitman, American poet, born May 31, 1819.
• Amendment 17 to the Constitution, providing direct election of senators, proclaimed, May 31, 1913.

For Famous Birthdays Click here
For more on the month of May in history click here

May Birthstone-Emerald

May Flower-Lily of the Valley