Sunday is May Day! (May 1st)
Most people have an idea of what May Day is, thanks to the Maypole and children dancing around it with ribbons. However, there’s a bit more to that, it’s the celebration of Spring and new life! I’ve been celebrating May Day and ding dong ditching flowers of neighbors doors my whole life – but it wasn’t until I moved to Utah that I had to start explaining what I was doing. If you look it up online, May Day is celebrated all over the world! In England they have a Maypole, Ireland celebrates with gatherings and bonfires, France gives lilies out and Germany even went as far as to deliver Maypoles to the yards of the ladies they fancied the night before. All of these traditions and more welcome spring and summer.
When people began immigrating to America and the melting pot began to mix in all the rich cultures, May Day celebrations morphed into their own traditions, combining old and new. With this new blend of life, May Day baskets were assembled, usually with flowers or treats, and dropped off on porches and doorsteps. The giver rings the bell and runs away!
Next to April Fools Day, May Day is one of my favorite holidays. Some of my best childhood memories are filling up our wagon with flowers from our yard and doorbell ditching them on our neighbors front porches. All the while thinking we were so sneaky! (Spoiler alert, we were not. ha!)
I want my boys to have those same kind of memories. So, while these are technically supposed to be anonymous, I’m blowing our cover to tell you all that this is happening, in the hopes it’ll pick up and become a fun tradition wherever you live!
Here are a few pictures from May Day’s past. (Can we all take a second to appreciate Fields’ hair!?) They don’t have to be anything fancy – in fact I usually just grab a couple bouquets from the grocery store and break them down into smaller ones to pass out. Easy peasy!
