I know I am a few days late.  I was hoping in that time I would be able to find some wallpaper and add an image or two to this reminiscence.  It does not look like that is going to happen any time soon so here you go.

 

When I was younger and growing up, we would celebrate May Day.  My father’s family was mostly English in background so our celebration was not that of Eastern Europe where May Day is associated with the Labour movement.  Our celebrations were more of the sharing spring with the neighbors.  

 

Some time the middle of April, we would head to the local wall paper and paint store.  Yes, I am old enough that this is what was sold at that store, unlike today when you go, most likely, to Lowe’s or Home Depot to look at wall paper.  We would ask for any discontinued sample books or just discontinued samples.  A wall paper book held hundreds of pages of 12 inch by 12 inch wall paper samples and we wanted the prettiest ones for our May baskets.

 

Most May baskets were made from either brightly colored wall paper or from floral patterned wall paper.  Since, even to this day, we can still get some winter weather in May, the idea was for the basket to definitively be a symbol of spring.  After cutting a strip from either the side or the top of the sample, we would have two rectangular pieces, one for the handle and one for the basket.  The larger piece was rolled into a cone shape and glued together.  Then, the smaller piece was put on the open end of the cone as a handle.

 

Come May 1, we would fill the basket with little candies for our friends and go hang them on the door knobs at their homes.  If there were neighbors who had no children, we hoped there would be flowers already out that could be picked to put in the basket.  The door bell would be rung and we would run. 

 

May Day came back to me in full force when my children began attending Maine Memorial Elementary.  The school would have a May Day celebration each year that would involve each grade doing a different type of dance, a Maypole and crowning of the Queen of May.  Many years, the gymnasium  was so crowded only grandparents got chairs to sit in and watch.  The rest of us stood as the orchestra would play and the high school Madrigal choir would sing.

 

Do you have memories of May Day?