Happy May Day ! ! !

ndynt

ndynt

Senior Member
Location
NE Florida
How many remember school May Day celebrations? Making construction paper May Day baskets, that you filled with flowers and hung from your favorite neighbor's door knobs? Weeks of practicing May Pole dances and athletic demonstrations for the annual (often still chilly) elementary school May Day?

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Yes, I remember this. Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths - all the beautiful spring flowers. It was also a special day in my family as it was my older brother's birthday so dinner always included his favorite German potato salad and spice cake.
 
Yes I remember all that too Nona...and as I said earlier on another thread it was a tradition in Scotland when I was growing up for all children to get a whole new wardrobe of clothes or at the very least one item , Shoes, a dress or something , to celebrate the Ist of May. Girls also got up early in the morning to wash their faces in the early morning dew Did anyone else have that tradition?
 

Happy May Day Everyone!

We did May Day celebrations at school when I was a kid with the May pole dance, its somehow associated with a sports day. Usually one of the first warm days in spring.

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Cookie said:
Happy May Day Everyone!

We did May Day celebrations at school when I was a kid with the May pole dance, its somehow associated with a sports day. Usually one of the first warm days in spring.

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I could never understand why and how the sports were related to May Pole dances and May flower baskets.
 
It was a long time ago, these could been two different events or because the day had to be filled with activities it could also have been combined. Out in west coast B.C. it would have been warm enough at this time of year to get a little sunburn too.
 
I don't remember participating in any May Day celebrations Nona, but I do remember good feelings about the holiday.

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We had May Day celebrations for the first 2-3 grades in elementary school. Even remember a May pole in the gym. Early 50's. .
 
Cookie said:
It was a long time ago, these could been two different events or because the day had to be filled with activities it could also have been combined. Out in west coast B.C. it would have been warm enough at this time of year to get a little sunburn too.
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I remember that they were all combined when I was in elementary school. Never made much sense to me. Perhaps, as you said, it was to lengthen the day. Or, somehow to designate the beginning of spring outdoor activities?
 
Now that you mention it Josiah....our May Day celebration was called Field Day, also. Thus the sports activities? Though the May Pole was the prime attraction. For all the children that participated were dressed in new spring clothes. Flower wreathes in the girl's hair and boutonnieres for the boys.
 
Here in England, and most of the UK I think, May Day has nothing to do with sports(at least of the usual kind!) It's connected to fertility, and the new growth of Spring, hence the Maypole.Hawthorn trees bloom(also called May blossom.)Children make posies and baskets of flowers in schools, as others have said.It's a Bank Holiday Weekend here, and people go out for the day and celebrate in the old traditions, of spending six hours in traffic queues to get to the seaside, and toiling around garden centres and shopping malls.:aargh:
 
2-3rd grade...May pole. Do they still do that?

While strolling through the park one day
In the merry merry month of May
I was taken by surprise
By a pair of roguish eyes
I was scared but I didn't run away

He walked along so daintily
Moving as graceful as can be
His legs were like the trunks of trees
I hardly came up to his knees
He looked at me again
And I knew we would be friends
He's just a little bigger than me!

He had the cutest baby too
About as old as me and you
Maybe soon one day
We could all go out and play
And be friends with one
Elephants in the park

He walked along so daintily
Moving as graceful as can be
I though I'd seen a lot of things
From New York to Colorado
Springs
From his tail up to his trunk
From the back up to the front
The elephant is so astonishing
This elephant is so astonishing
This elephant is so astonishing
 

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