May Day

When I was a girl at home, my mother and I would make May Day baskets. We would fold construction paper into cones and glue or staple them to retain their shape. Then we would affix paper handles. Sometimes we would draw pictures or write words on the “baskets”.

Once we had made enough for mom’s friends and local family members, we would pick flowers and greenery from the yard, trim it to size, and stuff the baskets full of flora and fauna.

It was always exciting to create these lovingly made baskets, but the real intrigue was when we would drive to someone’s house just outside of view from the front, sneak up to the front door, and hang a basket on the doorknob before ringing the doorbell and running back to the car.

I remember one time I left one on the door of a friend whose mother I knew would be home. My friend’s father was a very stern disciplinarian and although he was considered a leader in our hometown community, I thought of him as mean and possibly dangerous. In reality, he probably was a normal man-of-the-house, but he lacked the love and empathy I saw in my own father. I thought the May Day basket would be a blessing to my friend.  Her mother remembered that one gesture for years and commented to my mother well after I grew up and left home.

Historically, May Day has various memories. Considered a pagan holiday by some, it was a celebration of Beltane – honoring the return of spring, rebirth of fertility and life – as it falls halfway between the Spring equinox and summer solstice.  In some traditions, washing one’s face with the morning dew on May 1 would bring beautiful skin and good luck. In Hawaii, the date is known as Lei Day in which they celebrate the aloha spirit and the giving of the flower.  My mother recalled dancing around a May pole at her Catholic girls’ school.

May Day also is associated with the Haymarket affair of 1886 in which worker’s went on strike in an attempt to demand an eight-hour workday. May 1^st was designated as International Worker’s Day and is celebrated in approximately 160 countries around the globe. The United States does not celebrate International Workers’ Day on May 1, as we have Labor Day later in the year.

Mayday is also an internationally recognized distress term that is used by pilots and maritime vessels to request emergency assistance. The term was coined in 1920 by Frederick Stanley Mockford, a radio officer at Crydon Airport in London. Mayday is the phonetic equivalent of the French phrase m’aider, which means help me.

For me, May Day is simply a nod to the flowers beginning to peak through the defrosting ground, welcoming the sun and brightening our days. It is a day full of happy memories from childhood. Thus, dear readers, I send you virtual baskets of flowers on your electronic doorstep and wish you a lovely spring day.