The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1930-05-01
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON

lEC 8 when she offers striking
F-- evidence that she Is the
J 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
stlll conscious of their English an
cestry. That day is the first of May.
10 some people who live in America
out who have not yet been trans
formed into Americans by the al
chemy of the melting pot, May
means day for protest against the
prevailing order of things, for so
called radical activities, for calling
Tor an uprising which somehow
never seems to come off successfully.
For millions of Americans Nav
means disorder of another kind. the
semi-annual upheaval in domestic ar
fangements and change from old fire
sides to new, known as .'Moving dav.n
But to millions of young Americans.
IN our schools and colleges, May 1 is a
festival day, a time of rejoicing and
merrymaking, of song and of dance,
And as they, gaily dressed, weave in
ana out with the long streamers at
tached to the top of a Maypole erected
on some level stretch of greensward.
they are perpetuating an old custom
of bringing in the May" which traces
back in 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 If
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 personfication of spring
and was thought to have every bios |
somlng 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 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 Nav
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 1t 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
n choral dance called "Khorovod, and
In Sweden there was also a May day
celebration with dance.
But for some reason the festival
reached Its highest development in
England and we now think Of il as
a distinctively English custom.
Early in the first morning of Nav
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
-allest, straightest hawthorne, to cut
t down and, with its greenness still
freshly fragrant, to bring it into the
public square, there to raise 1t for s
he center of their long days festivitv.
they did 1t with much ceremony.
A writer in the Fifteenth century
'ays: "They bring home with great
they have twentie or
ortie yoake of oxen-every one hav- /
ng a sweet nosegaie of flowers tied /
o the tip of his horns, and those oxen f
RAW home the May poale. COW 7
red all over with flowers and !
learbes. -. and thus equipped it t