About National May Ray Day
With the middle of May hopefully heralding sunnier weather, this is a day to get out and get some much-needed vitamin D and fresh air.
Nobody knows why May Ray Day is May 19th, though fittingly this appreciation of light, marks a literally dark day that happened on this day in the late 18th century.
At midday on May 19th 1780, near-total darkness unaccountably descended on much of New England. Candles were lit, fowls went to roost and many fearful persons believed that doomsday had arrived.
At New Haven, CT, Colonel Abraham Davenport opposed adjournment of the town council in these words: "I am against adjournment. The day of judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for an adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I wish therefore that candles may be brought."
No scientifically verifiable cause for this widespread phenomenon was ever discovered.
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