Still playing with Doobleh-vay, even though I flaked in New Orleans and just plum forgot last week. Two more on the way before April ends. I love you guys.
I pull the worry up to my chin,
snuggle down into it.
I find worrying its own
cloying
comfort.
Worry to keep bats from my hair
and ruin from my family
and all my enemies
at bay.
Worry to keep them away.
Hold me, worry.
Hold me close and keep me safe.
Safe from pestilence, illness and shame.
Comfort cancer.
Sweet comfort, my worry.
The nice thing about adapting a tradition like May Day for modern ages is that you don’t have to feel locked in to a certain style. Filling your May Day basket doesn’t have to be expensive or twee, it can be what ever the heck you want it to be.
Fun.
Modern.
Photographic.
Natural.
In my opinion, the only must is something that celebrates the impending growing season. We choose flowers, real ones, for our May Day baskets. But if real flowers aren’t your thing, you can make flowers out of crepe paper, soda cans or even just share flower seeds.
Our May Day baskets will be filled with the following ingredients:
Daffodils tied with ribbon (they’re 3 bunches for $5.00 at the grocery store right now)
A stack of home made cookies
A card with a custom May Day poem and some drawings from the girls
And it will be anonymous.
(Since my neighbors don’t know I have a blog, I win!)
In a lovely twist, I found I’m most excited about hanging the basket on the door of the neighbors that don’t like us one bit! Loving someone fiercely — despite their dislike of me — is a gleeful pursuit, one I look forward to exploring.
Check in over the weekend to see how our surprise, surprises!
Baskets are the bane of my clutter-free home. They remind me of that late eighties country kitchen theme, one not really my aesthetic.
So when it comes to the basket part of the May Day basket, I have three suggestions so you’re not buying extra stuff.
1. Use extra Easter baskets.
We are lucky enough to have extras from gifts for the girls – if they’re not going in the Easter bin for next year, we can fill and hang them on the neighbors’ doors for May Day.
2. Make May Day baskets out of construction paper and other recyclable ingredients.
Since the internet is chock-full of ideas on this one, I’ll point you to Disney’s sweet little bee basket and these glorious bow baskets. Aren’t those bow baskets amazing? We could totally put them together during a few episodes of The Voice.
3. Make May Day baskets out of cans or other reusable containers.
These precious cans from Alpha Mom’s adorable May Day basket win cute awards the world over. Not to mention Design Sponge’s jelly jar tucked full of beautiful flowers. These paper-covered cans are perfect as something even my toddlers could help with.
Like I said, we’re hanging five baskets on neighbor’s doors. This means several different containers. We plan to fill one leftover Easter basket, two construction paper cones, a plain canvas bag and bucket. Each will be filled with flowers, treats and surprises for the specific neighbor.
I’ve been surprised by the glee I feel when planning the May Day basket for the neighbors that like us the least. Abundant treats the May Day way.
Have you picked out your targets yet?
Do you plan to leave an anonymous basket?
So May Day is my fascination this week. We’re putting May Day baskets on 5 neighbor’s doors on Sunday. Before we make our lists, I wanted to check out some history first.
I like May Day because it seems like such a female holiday. Traditionally, May Day celebrations include fertility and beauty.
I’d said on Twitter that the beginning of May was a big feast time in Rome. Floralia was for worshiping Flora, the goddess of flowers. Then Maypoles got involved. Bringing in the Maypole from the woods was big cause for celebration. They’re not the only part of May day that I love, I love the history of May Dew, the beauty treatment.
But back to Maypoles.
As it goes with men, Maypoles were of all sizes.
Also as with men, villages competed for the biggest one.
The biggest Maypole recorded, at 134 feet, was brought in two pieces from Scotland to London, and, encouraged by drums, hoisted into position by twelve seamen (heh). The biggest Maypole got even cooler when Sir Isaac Newton bought it to support his 124 foot telescope.
Ah, men.
Young girls dancing around the May pole is an English tradition. Evolving over time, the Maypole dance became a whole lot more involved. More recently, dancers weave in and around one another making patterns with ribbons attached to the top of the pole
But no, Helen Jane, tell me about May dew.
Water for purifying was always important in ancient New Year rituals — Europeans believed that dew taken from the hawthorn tree before dawn on May Day was a beauty tonic. They say Catherine of Aragon went into the woods with 25 ladies-in-waiting, to wash her face in May Day dew.
Will I see you out in the morning on Sunday?
Washing your face in dew?
How ’bout Maypoling?
