Celebration of May Day, with foods and fun

donna

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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May 12, 2010
Location
Now Florida but always a Kentuckian
Today is May 1st. I remember when I was in high school we celebrated it with a picnic and dancing around the May Pole. We all wore white dresses and there were garlands and flowers.

There is disagreement among folklorists as to origin of May Day. Some say it started with the Roman Festival of Flora, goddess of flowers in 238 B.C., or that Romulus started it right after the founding of Rome, or that a man named Servilius, who by order of the Senate, arranged for its celebration in 173 B.C. However, it probably had its roots in old India and Egypt, when it would have coincided with the Spring fertility rites.

It is certain that the Romans brought the May Day celebration to Britain and it became a yearly highlight in medieval and Tudor England. Everyone was up at dawn to "go a-Maying". gathering hawthorn branches, playing horns and tabors, and singing. The Maypole, usually birch, was brought in by oxen and set up in the village with flowers, ribbons, and garlands.

As the poet Robert Herrick wrote:

"Can such delights be in the streets,
And open fields, and we can not see it?...
But, my Corinna, come, let's go a-Maying."

The Puritans did not like May Day. So Maypoles were banned in 1644, but when the Stuarts replaced the ruling Tudors, the Maypoles returned.

May Day was celebrated in America, especially in the south. Our English settlers brought along the custom of celebrating and giving May baskets. These baskets contained flowers and verses to May, candies and other sweets and were given to neighbors and friends. Actually, in 1916 a directive to Virginia Public Schools from the Department of Public Instruction, gave guidelines for May Day celebration. People still remember singing "Welcome Sweet Springtime" and children singing and dancing around the Maypole.

I still remember my school's celebrations on May Day. It was a fun time with friends and parents. We always had a great picnic.

Menu for May Day Picnic:

Virginia or Kentucky Ham Salad
Ginger Cream Triangles
Pimiento Cheese Stuffed Celery
Buttermilk Biscuits
Strawberries In Ribbon Bedecked Baskets
Springtime Punch
Chocolate Gems
 
Ham Salad

2 cups diced cooked ham
1 cup diced celery
1 cup sweet pickle relish
4 hard-cooked eggs, finely chopped
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
12 medium tomatoes
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
Lettuce leaves

Combine ham, celery, pickle relish, eggs, mayonnaise, and mustard. Mix well and chill.

Cut tops from tomatoes; scoop out pulp, leaving shells intact. Sprinkle inside of each tomato with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Invert on paper towel and drain.

Spoon ham into tomato shells. Serve on lettuce leaves. Makes 12 servings.
 
Springtime Punch

3 quarts water
8 quart-size tea bags
1 cup sugar
1 (12 ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed and undiluted
1 (32 ounce) bottle ginger ale, chilled

Bring water to a boil and add tea bags. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 10 minutes. Discard tea bags, add sugar and lemonade concentrate, stirring until dissolved. Chill thorouhly. Stir in ginger ale before serving. Makes 1 gallon.

Information on May Day History and recipes from: "The Southern Heritage Celebrations Cookbook" , Oxmoor House, Birmington, Alabama,1983.
 
I missed this thread the first time around. Glad you bumped it up Donna! My dad remembers having May Day celebrations at school with the May Pole dance & various festivities. Found a fun link to a May Pole dance at a fairy festival :giggle:

 
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