Monday, May 3, 2010

May Day

As a child, my brother and I used to make paper 'buckets', fill them with flowers from our yard, hang them on neighbors front doors, ring their doorbells and RUN!

This was our version of May Day. and I LOVED it. :)

Every year, I remember, with fondness, our May Day flower fun.

This year, I taught my children about the tradition (I actually researched it a bit, but there isn't much history behind the tradition, other than that it has been done on the 1st of May for years. The whys of the tradition are not super clear.)

I did not tell them about the ringing the doorbell bit ~ but we (Gabby and I --the other two young ones are simply NOT the type you wake up early if you want to enjoy the rest of your day) did place the baskets sneakily in the early morning, so as to have the gifts be anonymous surprises :)

(except for Gramma's basket--she knew right away who they were from--after all, she is the one who taught me!)

3 comments:

Daniel said...

I do miss the lilacs ... even if they're delivered by little trespassers.

Tamara said...

That is an awesome tradition - those little baskets are so fun! Gabby looks super cute!

Amy said...

Thank you for sharing this. Now I know why there were children running around our neighborhood this weekend, ringing doorbells and leaving flowers! :)