Friday, April 28, 2006

Do you remember?

May Day....
not the call for help,
Mayday... but the day
itself.

May Day was May 1st.
It was flowers. You put
flowers in a container and
left them on the door knob
of a neighbor. Usually an
elderly lady, who you thought
would like them. But had
to remember not to
pick hers for it. See, we use
to pick flowers when
I was a kid. Not in someone's
yard. But in the fields.
Sure made a lot of ladies smile.

Then there was the Maypole..
Does anyone do that? Last
time I saw any pictures of it
being done was in the 1970's
and it was the flower children
of the Hippie's era....who
were dancing around the Maypole.

Sad when things slide away
And I wonder.. how did and where
did that tradition come from.

6 comments:

Big Piney Woods Cats said...

When I was a kid we would carry baskets to friends with candy, leave them on the door, ring the bell and run.....the recipient would run and kiss you!

They still have dancing around the May pole in Levenworth, Washington..at least they did not long ago.

stebbijo said...

Yep I remember - you were supposed to leave flowers at the door and run.

When in doubt I always consult Wikipedia. Here is their take on May Day.

ErinG said...

Your post just brought back a memory of what I think must have been May Day when I was in Kindergarten. We made flower baskets out of construction paper in class and then I went home and put them at our front door, rang the doorbell and ran away. I hadn't thought about that in years. :)

Big Piney Woods Cats said...

My desktop monitor bit the dust (2 years old) and Dell is sending me a new one. I am on my laptop right now, I dont have your email address and I dont use this anyway, except when something like this happens. News monitor coming late next week, so will off line until then.

JBelle said...

I was just thinking about May Day yesterday! Maybe making a basket for someone? If we lived in the same town, you'd hear your doorbell and when you got there, noone would be there but there would be a basket of the best flowers on your doorstep! What are you doing in your garden?

JBelle said...

You have 8 kids?!