The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1930-04-25
BY ELMO SCOTT WATSON

Vk5c when she offers striking
~ ri evidence that she is the
daughter of Old England
and that the descendants
of the founders of the ma
ton, despite the infiltration of other
racial strains during the centuries in
which the nation was building, are
still conscious of their English an
cestry. That day is the first of May.
To some people who live in America
but who have not yet been trans
formed into Americans by the al
chemy of the melting pot, May 1
means day for protest against the
prevailing order of things, for So
called radical activities, for calling
for an uprising" which somehow
never seems to come off successfully.
For millions of Americans May /
means disorder of another kind, the
semi-annual upheaval in domestic ar
rangements and change from old fire.
sides to new, known as Moving day."
But to millions of young Americans,
in our schools and colleges, May is a
festival day, a time Of rejoicing and
merrymaking, of song and Of dance.
And as they, gaily dressed, weave in
and out with the long streamers at
tached to the top of Maypole erected
on some level stretch of greensward
they are perpetuating an old custom
of bringing in the May" which traces
back i'm an unbroken line to the
Elizabethan days in Merrie England.
In that respect, May day is almost
unique. Few, if any, of the holidays
which we celebrate are observed in a
manner so closely resembling it's
ancient observance as is this one. 1t
is one of the popular customs of the
long ago which persists after others
have long since passed away.
The month of May is named for
Maia, the Roman goddess of fertility.
Maia was the personification of spring
and was thought to have every bios
soming wild flower and shrub under
her special care and protection. The
Romans engaged in elaborate floral
games during the first week of May.
So the May day celebration of a later
period had it's roots in the rites orig
inally offered in honor of the god
dess Maia. But it was another Ro-
man festival which brought to May
day the character of the ceremonies
which made it distinctive. This was
the Floralia, held in honor of Flora,
the goddess Of flowers, when there
were gay costumes, dramatic perform
ances and dances. When Christianity
began to prevail over Europe, certain
pagan customs were retained in a
modified form and among these was
the May day celebration. In medieval
times it became an important festival
and all classes Of people, old and
young, participated in it. Among the
Russians there was spring festival
celebrated by the boys and girls with
q choral dance called "KhorOvod" and
in Sweden there was also a May day
celebration with a dance.
But for some reason the festival
reached its highest development in
England and we now think of it as
q distinctively English custom.
Early in the first morning of May
the men and the maids of Old England
would set forth singing for the fields
and the woods to gather Towering
boughs, wayside blossoms and any
pretty, fresh green things that might
await them. These treasures were
used to MAY" the doors of the popu-
lar houses in the village. 1t is this
custom which survives in the hanging
of May baskets by the children of
today.
However the "Mayere" went into
the woods primarily to choose the
talleSt,. straightest hawthorne, to cut
it down and, with it's greenness still
freshly fragrant. to bring it into the
public square, there to raise it for
the center of their long days festivity.
They did it with much ceremony.
A writer in the Fifteenth century
says: "They bring home with great
veneration; they have twentie or
fortie yoake of oxen-every one hav-
ing sweet nosegaie of flowers tied
to the tip of his horns, and those oxen
draw home the May poale. !. COW
cred all over with flowers and
hearbes. and thus equipped it