It's May first. I was trying to explain to Rick (who is incredibly younger than me) that we used to celebrate May 1 with flower baskets hung on doors and Maypole dances.
I was chosen once to be in the Maypole dance. I was so excited. I had long hair then and was a sweet, freckle-faced third grader. It was quite a status thing to be in the dance. Girls and boys lined up to grab crepe paper strands and glide around going over and under interchangably with each person around the pole. Originally I think people used strands of flowers, but in Idaho we used paper.
I was so proud to be in the dance to celebrate spring. Then at the last minute they took me out and substituted with a "taller" girl. That was their excuse. Looking back, I wonder if it was because I wasn't coordinated enough to braid the pole or something.
It still haunts me. I remember, third-grade teachers. I'm sure I've become a slightly different person because of this slight. And Rick just looked at me blankly when I tried to explain the celebration. He said, "That was really back in the day. Kids wouldn't do that now." He's never heard of the quaint custom. I am incredibly old and slightly marred. I still remember May Day. sigh...
8 comments:
I've never seen an actual May Pole and the traditional dance around it but I've seen pictures. How mean of the teacher to take you out of the celebration. Who cares how tall you were. Some people just don't think do they.
I don't have a May Pole, or a Flag Pole or any other kind of pole. Wanna come over and dance around one of my sprinkler heads with me?
No, Holly. It's not like pole dancing. That's a whole different kind of thing. I'd never have done that pole dancing in 3rd grade--let alone now. hahaha
I've never danced around the May Pole (or any other pole). It is too bad your memory of the May Pole dance is tarnished by being replaced by a taller person.
I remember making little construction paper cones, filled with flowers and hanging them on our neighbor's doors back in the day with my mom! She loves flowers. that was looong ago! Now you have to be a communist to celebrate May day, haha.
The only time in my whole school years I ever saw that done was when I was in the 3rd grade in Rigby. From then on when we moved out of that town to another in Washington, no one had ever heard of the Maypole dance. I remember thinking it was fun to do and so pretty at the end.
And the haunting? Isn't it amazing that we still have those things doing that to us. I could name many times with the stories behind them. Probably explains a few things about my personality today.
Yep, dancing with paper streamers around a tree or pole...I remember it, Jo. You're not that old!!!!
When I was a sprout, we made May Baskets and put them on doors in the neighborhood. No coordination required ~ just glue/paper/flowers.
Happy May Day (a day late) to you....Rick doesn't know what he missed!
I must admit I had a fantasy of dancing around a may pole in a filmy dress with a circlet of flowers on my head that never came to pass. Perhaps we should recreate it and resolve our issues.
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