When I was a young girl, the kids in my neighborhood celebrated May Day -- May 1 -- by leaving little baskets of flowers on the front porches of our neighbors. We would ring the doorbells and then run and hide, peeking from behind the shrubs to see the neighbors' faces when they found the flowers.I think we heard about the May Day tradition at school and from our mothers, who told us of their similar adventures from their childhood. I don't remember what kind of "baskets" we used, but it seems like we fashioned something out of paper. Maybe we wove paper strips into baskets at school or taped together notebook paper at home. I'm sure the flowers were wildflowers growing in the yards, maybe even dandelions!
Wikipedia says the tradition of May baskets has been fading since the late 20th century, which is a shame, because a little basket of flowers might just brighten up someone's day!
Even if you're not dropping anonymous baskets of flowers off at the neighbors' houses today, you can still send a little bit of May cheer with your letters via the great Botanical Art stamps that the U.S. Postal Service offers. They came out last year, so if your post office doesn't have them anymore, you can order them online at usps.com.
Happy letterwriting!
2 comments:
Oooh love this idea....
I remember schools encouraging May baskets when I was young--woven paper baskets and paper flowers. A shame that this tradition has waned, but in today's world, we often don't even know our neighbors. In those neighborhoods make efforts at community, May Baskets would be a great tradition to revive. :)
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