Did you celebrate May Day as a child? I remember weaving ribbons through the little green plastic boxes strawberries used to come in, loading them with sweet peas, and delivering them as gifts.
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Did your school or primary celebrate May Day? Did you ever dance around a maypole?
Here are three historic pictures of May Day celebrations. The first is from 1927 Goshen, Utah. The second is from San Bernardino around the 1890s, so some of those in the picture would have been original Mormon pioneers, and the third is a later picture with the May Day queen and king and all the women wearing May flowers.
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Picture credits: Sweet peas, Pixabay. San Bernardino May Day: courtesy San Bernardino Public Library, Pioneers of San Bernardino Collection. Goshen Sunday School, May Day, George Edward Anderson, Courtesy L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.
Wonderful photos, Amy! Thanks!
Meanwhile, in England this morning…https://twitter.com/jackfmnews/status/1123460237116215296
I think I remember maypoles. Maybe in elementary school. Maybe kindergarten. Or am I remembering watching a movie or a television program, or reading, about maypoles, and then unconsciously appropriating it as a memory? No, I think I remember real maypoles.
My mother remembers maypole dances and other celebrations at her elementary school in Richfield, Utah in the early 1950’s. I associate May Day as primarily a pagan fertility festival, but we have had celebrations with our homeschool group, and it is a lot of fun.
My thought process was very similar earlier today, Gary!
Glad you enjoyed it, Grant.
That’s wonderful, Alison, including the tree. (!) I wish there were more folk traditions where I live, besides the faint traces of Pennsylvania Dutch culture.
I wonder why the celebrations would have continued in homeschool groups but faded from public schools, Lisa. Evidently there’s a town in Utah that still celebrates the holiday. Mendon.
I had ancestors who lived in San Bernardino, so about 1986 I took a day off from work and went to the LDS History Archives (2nd Floor) to see what I could learn. I wanted to read Amasa Lyman’s diary. I had to fill out forms and then go through an interview, then was told I wouldn’t be allowed to see it.
But they handed me a microfilm reel and said I could read Andrew Jensen’s history of San Bernardino, and maybe I’d learn something about my relatives there. When I had finished I don’t think I knew anything more about my Eames (Ames) relatives, but wow. Among other fascinating stories Jensen had apparently copied the complete script of a May Day celebration in San Bernardino from about 1853–all the words spoken, all the ceremonial events of the day. It was an all-day party and a really big thing!
I have since tried to locate that history in the LDS archives, but never found it.
However, I never thought to ask at the front desk.
I covet that record, Steve, now that I know it exists.
My, how research has changed, Steve! Now the Lyman diaries are available online.
Thanks for mentioning the wonderful account! The San Bernardino celebration was in 1856. The May Queen was Lois B. Pratt. Someone addressed her saying those gathered “pledge ourselves to be your faithful and dutiful subjects this day; being assured that your heart is pure and that you will be mild and gentle in your degrees—that you will be just in your decisions—that you will wear with becoming dignity the crown which decks your fair brow, and that your reign will be characterized by peace, innocence and joy.” A different speaker noted, “Remember that the eyes of the young men in Israel are upon you: and may we all so conduct ourselves in future years, that at last we may reign together in the heavens.”
Lois replied and said, “for your flattering address, accept our thanks…” and directed comments to the young men hoping they would “make themselves as happy as possible, in such innocent and harmless pastimes as they may choose, not forgetting that we shall expect from them such honorable conduct and such gentlemanly behavior, as should ever distinguish American boys.”
They gave the European custom both a Mormon and American spin.
If only all my covetous desires were fulfilled so instantly. Thank you, Amy.
: )
And that should say “decrees,” not “degrees”!
Wow! I never even really heard of the celebration of May Day until I got involved with the Washington Revels, which in addition to an annual Christmas/solstice pageant put on an annual May celebration at the National Cathedral, maypole and all — and in which I’ll be performing this Saturday!
This made my day. Love your work Amy. Thank you.
My computer hasn’t yet deigned to show me the photographs, but I have already learned a lot from the comments. It’s starting to feel more like the first of May here now that last night’s snow is melting off.
Great photos! Thank you. Do you have any more information on the third photo? Was this also from Goshen? Year?
Amy T., Our homeschool group was not a religious homeschool group but one that included many families of various spiritual traditions, including some who were pagan and others who were open to celebrating the seasons in this way. This particular group held a May Fest every year. It was very low-key, not “spiritual” in any way, just fun. My kids loved making wreaths of flowers to wear and dancing around the Maypole.
I think at my elementary school (early 1980s) we used the tetherball poles as a May Day pole
The third picture is from San Bernardino, 1939, and is of the Pioneer Society, now merged with the Historical Society. Some members were descended from early Mormon settlers, others not. Only two people are identified in the photo and it looks like the man was not “king,” but “bishop.” I’m evidently not too familiar with May Day celebrations!
Okay, I can see that hat as a bishop’s mitre instead of a king’s crown. Interesting mix of Christian and Pagan, to have a May Bishop.
I danced the maypole as a sixth grader at Wasatch Elementary (just East of BYU) in the late 80s. We didn’t do it as part of a dedicated May festival; it was (and may still be, for all I know) the custom at Wasatch to have a dance festival on the last day of school, with each grade doing its own dance. Sixth grade always did the maypole (we had two poles, maybe fifteen feet tall, with long cloth strips attached to the top). Fourth grade learned to waltz and square dance during PE, so their dance was always one of those. I think the other grades had more latitude, though.
Now that I look at the pictures more closely, it looks like our maypoles looked pretty similar to the ones used in San Bernadino, with the exception that ours might have had more ribbons, because all of the children in the class danced.
Part of learning to dance the maypole was learning how to undo a tangle, which inevitably happened during practice. We didn’t mess up on the last day of school, though, if memory serves!