Clea Hollis May Day celebrated at churches, schools
May 6—The first day of May has been dubbed, May Day and is often celebrated with a May Pole dance. The first of May Pole celebrations was probably around a tall tree. Later, a pole was erected in a large open field with ribbons hanging for each person to participate in plaiting the pole. The shorter streamers were close to the pole for smaller children.
Many schools and churches still partake in the May activities to celebrate the end of winter and the blossoming of spring.
My high school extended the May Pole dance with square dancing. May baskets were often delivered on May Day. This year certainly calls for celebrations as we move out of sheltering at home to interacting visually in the community again. With new technology, the global world made adjustments and people continued their daily lives virtually.
What would our grandparents have done without technology? They probably would make more May baskets.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, May baskets were popular and were thought to have originated in Germany.
Young men would hang a small homemade basket of goodies or flowers on the doorknobs of the neighbors.
Tulips and daffodils are early blooming spring flowers and they may have been the flowers of choice. Often a young man would hang a small basket of flowers on the door of a girl he liked. If the girl was interested, she would chase him and kiss him.
When I was 12 years old, my father caught a young man with a May basket at our door. Dad chased him. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt received a May basket from students, when she lived in the White House.
These activities sprung into Mother's Day, a national holiday celebrated the second Sunday in May. Anna Jarvis led the movement to make Mother's Day a national holiday in 1914.
The ancient Greeks and Romans celebrated Mothering Sunday which precludes Mother's Day. The Institute of Human Potential, in Chestnut Hill, certifies males and females as mothers within the meaning of the word, nurturing. Anyone who cares for a child is mothering.
Mother's Day has a global presence, with more phone calls than any other holiday.
Of course, at the end of May, we close out the blooming month by planting in the garden and celebrating our loved ones on Memorial Day.
Clea P. Hollis is secretary of African American Heritage Society Inc.
