Monday 1 May 2006

Please to Remember the May !

                                                                                               We woke up to rain this morning ,I cant help thinking how two little girls ,about fifty five years ago would have been so disapointed ,you see yesterday ,they would have been going round the village asking for a few flowers to make their May garlands with ,people loved this and were so generous in their gifts of flowers ,home we would come and with a little help and advice from our Mums ,my Granny was the best, always had some good ideas,we would assemble our May garland ,yes the two little girls ,were Serena and myself ,my partner in crime throughout my childhood .When we had made the May garland to our satisfaction ,it would be left in the 'scullery'covered with a damp cloth over night.We didnt need calling twice to meet up and off we went ,knocking on doors ,and as it opened we would chant' Please remember the May ',(more often than not those of the people who had given the flowers, who had asked us to call back and show off our May garlands )we would receive a few pennys or some sweets,usually scarce because sweets were still rationed at this time ! The thing is I cant ever remember it raining on May day in those days ,am I looking back down the years through my rose coloured glasses ?It was soon time for School ,didnt we have a day off .......?We all took our garlands to school and how lovely they all looked in the main hall ,we each admired others, making mental notes for improveing on next years design !

And then in the afternoon,all our Mums and Grannys would come toschool along with the Rector ,the village Squire and any one else who was anyone ,govenors I,suppose , to see us dance round the May pole ,we had practised for weeks and now on the great day ,it had to be right,we each had a partner and we would be chanting quietly together .....under over ,under two ,over two ,the big boys would stand and support the pole,as we weaved our pattern down the pole I often wondered how we didnt weave them in too ! (borrowing trouble, even at that age lol )We had different sequences each forming a different plait design down the pole.All of this was watched by the May Queen and her attendants ,under neath the tree in the headmasters garden,all this took place on his lawn ,and you can just see the prefabricated 'canteen'through the trees.

The first picture was taken in my village in 1922,so you see we were carrying on a tradition that had taken place on May day for many years before. we made our little piece of history.Have a lovely May day everyone.

               With Love From JAN XXX  

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember May Day was always sunny. I got married on May Day in 1968 and it was very hot and sunny so your mind isn't deceiving you!! Lovely memories of the old days, do they celebrate it any more? Jeannette xx

Anonymous said...

What a lovely entry Jan. People choose not to celebrate this way now. Wish I could have been a part of it. I have been trying to I.M. you but no response, are they coming through?

Leigh xxxx

Anonymous said...

May was always lovely as I remember it too, especially as it is my birthday month! But as you say it could be the rose coloured specs!

Anonymous said...

What a lovely entry!!!! Thanks for sharing. Love laine xxx

Anonymous said...

A truly lovely entry and with the great photos. Such a shame the May Day customs have died out.  Maybe a few places still do them but there is certainly nothing around here.  No, your memory is not playing games, May Days used to be great weather wise years ago.  I remember my childhood and we used to get much more sunshine then than we do now.

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Anonymous said...

Lovely memories Jan. I have never seen any May day celebrations so it was a nice little history lesson for me!

Anonymous said...

Jan what a lovely memory ~ and the pictures are really great ~ what a shame they no longer do much for Mayday ~ well at least in this area they don't ~ thanks for sharing these memories ~ Ally

Anonymous said...

That was a very interestng entry, Helen

Anonymous said...

You brought back a nice memory for me too.... I remember one year at least when we had a may pole at our school. We had pretty ribbions but I don't remember if or how the flowers got on the ribbons... Its a rainy day here today too...

Anonymous said...

Nice memories you brought back, I remember the May Pole!!! It's all but for gotten now, so sad.
Pics were great!!!
Have a great May Day dear & a nice week.
Hugs, SUGAR

Anonymous said...

I've heard of of this going on, but never taken part, so it's been nice to re-live it with you Jan! I knew I should have bought some flowers!
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Anonymous said...

The only celebration we did of mayday was to get up really really early and wash our faces in the may dew...Thanks for sharing your memories :o)  Caff xxx

Anonymous said...

What a sweet story!  I remember May Day Baskets as a child.  They were paper cones filled with candies and left on door steps but we didn't have the flower garlands.  Too bad for us!  It would have made wonderful memories.  I loved the pictures!    Thank you!                  Kathy

Anonymous said...

What a lovely memory of May Day,I remember making the May garlands too.Mrs Compton was always so generous.Were those pictures fom the Cliffe book? Its a wonder you didn't get tied in knots dancing round the May pole.Hope you are having a nice May Day,every time I put my washing on the line it rains!!!......Love Jeanxx

Anonymous said...

Its grand for me a Scot to read about your traditions we don't have May Day up hear it is a holiday now but more of a holiday where only the banks are closed. Hope you had a lovely day and and hope you could see some of the old traditions still there. Love Joan.

Anonymous said...

Hello Jan

Lovely pics and a lovely memory of what is no longer celebrated.  Its a shame these traditions are not kept alive, afterall its a part of us and a part of our heritage which we should be passing on.

Luv Jayne x
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Anonymous said...

Hi Jan, thanks for all your help. I think the photo's are lovely and of a time which will never be the same again, sad really.What innocent childhoods we had,and appreciated far more simple things in life than today's world.Like you ,I think I was wearing the same rose coloured glasses,because I remember long hot summers,and it being really warm until about 10 pm.
Rach.xx

Anonymous said...

Jan..

As a child I remember playing a game that had a song that went along with it.."Here we go round the Maypole.. the Maypole.. the Maypole..."  I can't remember all the words but, I remember pretending that we had garlands of flowers and were entwining them around this makeshift pole.  I never really paid attention to the meaning of May 1st, or the symbolism, till your entry.  So.. I had to google May Day and read about it:  Very interesting!  Thank you for bringing this to my attention, as I love learning new things (although it was probably something that was taught to me in grade school and I didn't pay attention).  This is the website I went to: http://www.crystalinks.com/maypole.html...

Hugs and love,
Jackie

Anonymous said...

looking at the picturesremind me when I did May pole dancing at school. All the pattens like spider web you spent month prefecting
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Anonymous said...

Hi Jan,

What a lovely entry. The only memories I have of May Day are when I was really small, about 5 I think and we had a Maypole at school.  I was fascinated by the older children dancing around it. Maybe it`s my memory that`s failing but I don`t remember it ever happening again.  It`s a shame when old traditions disappear like that.

Sandra xxxx

Anonymous said...

Wonderful memories Jan... Hope you have had a good day.  Wet here too this afternoon  Eve

Anonymous said...

Ah the May garland tradition sounds a lovely one! And I've always wanted to dance round a maypole making those patterns lol. Loved this entry Jan :-)
lots of love Debbie ~xxx~
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Anonymous said...

lovely pics as usual :-)  I love your entries, your memories show no bounds xx We used to have a maypole at school, but I don't remember us dancing round it on mayday?? !!  or when we did lol.....my memory is terrible!!

Anonymous said...

Lovely memories Jan. We had a maypole at our junior school but nobody used it. I think it was one of those arcane rituals that were outlawed by time we were at the school. And rightly so, lol.
love the pics. B. x

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the memories Jan and the lovely old photo's. Take care.
Hugs Sylvia xx
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Anonymous said...

Love the pictures.  When I was young, we always had a may pole at our local high school.   It was a huge community event with such pretty pastel colors and flowers.  No more May Day celebrations anymore..such a shame.  HUGS  Chris

Anonymous said...

I love the pictures, I can remember dancing round the Maypole and even my kids did it at school...........Jules xx
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Anonymous said...

We did Maypole dancing at school too! Those photos are lovely. . .times seemed so much better then?

Anonymous said...

Hi Jeadie,

Love the old picture of May Day Celebrations...

I remember they had this at the convalescent home I was at in the early 1950's...

astra