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 (Summer in Europe). Therefore May in the Southern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent of November in the Northern Hemisphere and vice versa.
May symbols: The birthstone of May is the emerald which is emblematic of love and success. The May birth flower is the Lily of the Valley and the Crataegus monogyna. The mayflower Epigaea repens is a North American harbinger of May, and the floral emblem of both Nova Scotia and Massachusetts. Its native range extends from Newfoundland south to Florida, west to Kentucky in the southern range, and to Northwest Territories in the north. The zodiac signs for the month of May are Taurus (until May 20) and Gemini (May 21 onwards).
Historical Events for May, 1808
Day of Week 2nd » Outbreak of the Peninsular War: The people of Madrid Dos de Mayo Uprising or rise up in rebellion against French occupation. Francisco de Goya later memorializes this event in his painting The Second of May 1808.
Day of Week 3rd » Finnish War: Sweden loses the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia.
3rd » Peninsular War: The Madrid rebels who rose up on May 2 are executed near Príncipe Pío hill.
Day of Week 17th » Napoleon I of France orders the annexation of the Papal States to the First French Empire called French Empire.
Famous Birthdays on May in 1808
2nd » Emma Darwin, English wife of Charles Darwin (d. 1896)
15th » Michael William Balfe, Irish composer (d. 1870)