May Day celebrations first appeared in pre-Christian times, with the festival of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers. May Day may be best known for its tradition of dancing around the maypole and crowning of the Queen of the May. It is traditionally a summer holiday in many pre-Christian European pagan cultures. May 1 was considered the first day of summer. Well, so much for the feeling of a summer. We woke to 6 inches of snow this morning and the white stuff is still falling. I just hope it does not get cold tonight.
By the way, does anyone remember giving “May baskets” with candy to some unsuspecting girl from your class? I was so afraid she would find out it was me. 🙂 Stay warm!
2 Comments
Paul
Funny – no, not the snow, but the thought about May 1st. I thought about it this morning during my walk. We used to wrap a may pole, in elementary school. Come to find out that the whole celebration of May Day goes back to Babylon and was a sexual /fertility rite! Who knew? So, what exactly did you mean when you were giving those flowers, Monte? 😉
Monte Stevens
At that time in my life I just knew there was a difference between girls and boys. I think I gave candy rather than flowers. That way if they did not want the candy I could have a the candy. 🙂