Growing up, it may have seemed like May Day had more in common with April Fool’s Day, was fairly insignificant in the scheme of things, and was represented by long passed down playground songs. But there’s also a more serious side to May Day – one we Americans usually celebrate later in the year.

Starting With the Obvious

May Day is, as you might expect, celebrated on the first day in May. On schoolyards, kids change up their usual songs of “Ring Around the Rosie,” and “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush” with “A Branch of Snowy May” and “Hal An Tow.”

These songs are sung around poles brightly decorated with ribbons and sometimes wreaths. It’s origins go way back to Celtic times when May 1 was one of their cross-quarter days, halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice.

The day was celebrated with the gathering of wildflowers and green branches, the weaving of floral garlands, and the crowning of a May king and queen. Towns and villages would compete for the best decorated Maypole, much like we do Christmas light contests now.

Song and dance were often an essential part of the festivities, sometimes as an offering to whatever powers governed agriculture, and brought the sun and the rain to cultivate the crops. Some historians point even farther back, citing the Greek and Roman cultures for passing down the festival tradition.

In the Middle Ages, the party continued into the night with people lighting Bealtaine bonfires. Courtship rituals were a part of the May Day celebrations as well, typically leading to lots of June weddings.

Crossing Over

While May Day traditions are quite strong in England, many of the early Americans, especially the Puritans, felt they were too closely tied to pagan festival roots, and until the late 19^th century, most Americans didn’t celebrate.

One popular tradition that did make the leap is the making and distributing of May Baskets. Gathered spring flowers were placed in a wicker basket or a homemade paper basket or cone. The basket was then left on the doorstep or hung on the outside doorknob.

The basket creator would knock, ring the doorbell, and/or shout “May basket!” and run. In some cultures, if you catch the basket-leaver as they run away, you earn a kiss. The practice was popular in the United States right up until the Civil War. It disappeared for a time, but then there’s a story of some schoolchildren who, in the 1920s, hung a May Basket for First Lady Grace Coolidge on the White House door. It’s largely forgotten now unless you catch the reference in the children’s book Jack and Jill by Louisa May Alcott.

A Good Day Off

It’s somewhat unusual for two more or less official holidays to fall on the same day – even stranger for them to be so completely different from one another.

In 1889, an international federation of socialist groups and trade unions declared that May 1 should be a day in support of workers. Factory conditions and labor laws had been improving over the years, but a push for increased socialism was gaining steam, and the 1886 Haymarket Riot in Chicago brought things to a head – while wounding dozens and killing 7 police officers.

The announcement in 1889 by Second International led to adoption of “Worker’s Day” in many countries. Years later, it was one of the most prominent holidays in the Soviet Union, celebrated with parades and much fanfare.

In the United States, then President Grover Cleveland was in support of labor reform but justifiably concerned with the socialist roots of this new May Day. He knew that several states already honored the first Monday in September as Labor Day, and on June 28, 1894, he declared the latter a federal holiday.

Accidental Tourists

If you or your kids decide to resurrect the May Day tradition of floral-oriented ding dong ditch – or someone leaves a May basket on your door - just be careful. There are many insects that you could accidently bring into your home. Ants, caterpillars, and weevils can all “sneak in” in a floral arrangement. And then you’ll need a professional.

Our highly skilled technicians inspect your home and make sure all potential entry ways – except your front door – are secured against creepy crawlies. Then we use state of the art, green treatments that are safe for the family and pets, to eliminate bugs in your house and keep them out.

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