🌿 HAPPY MAY DAY ON SHAW ISLAND 2020 🌿

MAY DAY

Earliest observance: Unknown, dates from prehistoric time.

A Lilac which once grew in the garden
of Elsie Crawford Wood and before her,
the garden of her parents,
near the Shaw landing.
There was no May Pole dance but
her Lilac was saved from a bulldozer
in the 1980s, and planted by
local garden volunteers for the
Community Building where it blooms
this day of 1 May 2020.
Thanks Elsie.

"May Day is not an overly prominent holiday in the American year, but it does have a long and notable history as one of the world's principal festivals.
      The origin of May Day, and of its accompanying Maypole, undoubtedly goes back to New Year celebrations in prehistoric times which related to changing seasons. Trees have always been symbols of the great vitality and fertility of nature and were often used at the spring festivals of antiquity.
      The beginning of May was a very popular feast time for the Romans. It was devoted primarily to the worship of Flora, the goddess of flowers, in whose honor a five-day celebration was held, called the Floralia. This was from April 28 to May 2.
      For the Druids of the British Isles, May 1 was the second most important holiday of the year; it was the festival of Beltane, the day which divided the year in half. (The other holiday was Samhain, November 1.) By the Middle Ages, every English village had its Maypole. The bringing in of the Maypole from the woods was a great occasion and was accompanied by much rejoicing and merrymaking. 
      The Maypoles were of all sizes, and village vied with village to see who could produce the tallest one. The London Maypoles were permanently set in the ground, but the dancing around them was stopped by the Puritan Long Parliament in 1644.
      With the return of the Stuarts, the Maypoles reappeared and the festivities of May Day were again enjoyed. One of the great Maypoles, a 134-ft wonder, was brought in 1661 in two pieces from Scotland to London and hoisted into position by twelve seamen, with the encouragement of drums. It smoothly crossed the barrier from folklore to science when, in 1717, it was taken down and purchased by Sir Isaac Newton to be used as the support of his powerful 124-ft telescope.
      In recent years Americans seem to have attempted a revival of May Day, although in a way designed for children. Schools supervise the making of paper May Day baskets, which are meant to be filled with flowers and small gifts and hung on friends' doors on May Day. 
      Girls' schools and colleges have traditionally been enthusiastic observers of May Day in America. They had their May Queens and May dances, ceremonies, games, and a good deal of fun. In recent years, these customs have lapsed."

Source; Robert J. Myers. Celebrations, The Complete Book of American Holidays. Doubleday & Co. 1972.