“You are as welcome as the flowers in May.”
In the old days, May Day was cause for the dreaded Soviets to haul out their tanks, missiles, assorted weapons and legions and march through the streets of Moscow. In the really old days it was time to wear a flower crown in your hair and dance around the Maypole. I’m all for ribbons and crowns.
It’s going to be a beautifully warm, sunny May Day. Gracie is already asleep on the lounge in the sun. I sense a territorial skirmish is afoot.
May was a big month when I was a kid. There was Mother’s Day and there was the May procession.
It was about this time we started practicing all the songs for the procession. They were the same songs every year, and I still know most of them, “O Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today, Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May.” The week before the procession, the nuns would herd us into the school yard and we’d practice marching two by two, class by class. The whole school took part in the May procession. Parents and grandparents lined the streets. The second graders wore their first communion white dresses and white suits and the rest of us wore our Sunday best. We walked from the school a couple of blocks around to the stone grotto. I remember how excited I was to march and how hard I tried to be solemn, as befitting the occasion. I remember it was always sunny and warm.
I was in eight May processions. In my last one, in the eighth grade, I was chosen to do the crowning. That made me last in the procession. I stopped often to pose for pictures.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
May 1, 2010 at 11:49 am
It´s been cloudy and windy over here almost all day, but now the sun finally shines again.
May first is a national holiday over here and workers are out demonstrating. Well at least a few does nowdays, the rest just has a family day nowdays and many many recovers from hangovers today too 🙂 🙂
Otherwise may is just a spring month we all enjoy, we don´t put up our may pole until midsommers eve.
Have a great day in the sun now!
Christer.
May 1, 2010 at 10:30 pm
Christer,
It was a beautiful day and hot in the sun. It will be even nicer tomorrow.
I knew it was a holiday for labor in some countries, but I didn’t know Sweden was one.
I googled midsummer’s eve and read all about it in Sweden. It made me want to have a celebration.
May 1, 2010 at 12:34 pm
I wasn’t Catholic but all my cousins were so I got to watch them process out of the church and over to the statue of Mary. I forgot the part about crowning the statue with flowers. What I remember best is the statue’s feet standing on the globe of the world. It was probably the only thing I could see from my small height. 🙂 That congregation moved to a new church near me and I walk my dog through the lot daily. There’s a new grotto with a new statue but they don’t do the crowning anymore. I think that makes me a little bit sad.
Happy May Day!
May 1, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Caryn,
The procession was great. Every year in my memory it was sunny. We all wore our Easter dresses again. I remember flowers.
I don’t know if the school still has one, but I doubt it. It makes me sad too.
May 1, 2010 at 1:32 pm
May day was never a celebration when I was growing up in the conservative south. This was not only the holiday of the evil empire but also of the big bad unions. Our segregated schools would never display a North Polar projection of the world. The school district always wanted us to see a Mercator projection of the world which showed Europe on the right side of the Americas and Asia on the left.
I can remember reading about May Day and May poles, but I never saw either. It was the last month before school was out for the summer vacation. It was the month when the teachers opened up the big double hung windows in the classroom and when they brought in big electric fans to cool the kids before the schools had airconditioning.
May 1, 2010 at 10:38 pm
Bob,
I forgot about the big bad unions. Labor was never celebrated on this day when I was growing up. It was a day for flowers and welcoming spring.
It was generally still cool enough in school. We never had any fans.
May 1, 2010 at 1:37 pm
My Mother should have been 81 years old today. Off to the Chapel for us tonight.
May 1, 2010 at 10:38 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I understand should have.
May 1, 2010 at 2:03 pm
It’s May It’s May
the lusty month of May!
how i love May! On May day when the dolls were little we
would wake early and surprise the older neighbors with a small basket of wisteria and lily of the valley hung on their doors.
May crowning is Tuesday this week, it’s my favorite catholic holiday of all! my grandfather never sang in church except on this day, he knew all the words by heart.
We are in the midst of intermission between two storms at the moment ~ i awoke to thunderbumpers at 5 am and i am sure i will go to sleep by them this evening…isn’t Spring magical?
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
May 1, 2010 at 10:40 pm
splendid,
I remember my friend’s mother put baskets on the door for her every May day. They were with violets. It’s a beautiful tradition.
The crowning was always a Sunday for us. I think it was the week after mother’s day. I remember it was warm.
I love thunderstorms.
May 1, 2010 at 4:33 pm
May is my favorite month but today it kicked off with 107 temps here and the humidity was over 100%. I’m sure the people who live at the ocean loved it. We hardly got an ocean breeze here where I live. I remember my first communion, what a dressy affair that was. I remember my sister in the middle kicking and screaming because she wanted no part of it. Those were the days. I don’t go to church anymore so really haven’t kept up with the Catholic faith. I think it burned me out as a kid.
May 1, 2010 at 10:43 pm
Z&Me,
I cannot live in heat like that. We thought it was really warm here in the very high 60’s.
I’m so close to the ocean, but I always seem to have some sort of a breeze from the south.
We just went!