May Day--A Trip Down Memory Lane

Many years ago--when I was in elementary school, my class danced the MayPole at the big park in our home town. I  remember the dance as I did not know how to skip. I learned how to skip so I'm guessing it was the first or second grade. 

Our class started practicing how to dance around a MayPole early in the spring. We had to have a partner and it had to be a boy. We had to skip. And on a special day we would dance the MayPole at our school and "if we were good enough" we might be invited to dance the MayPole at the big park in downtown on May 1. 

I learned how to skip, which apparently it was quite difficult for me. I remember my dad trying to teach me as we skipped up and down the street for weeks. I finally got the idea and for months I would not stop skipping. He created a little skipping monster. It was so much fun.

We practiced dancing around the MayPole at school. Our teacher gave us huge ribbons that were long and wide and we needed to practice making a neat design on the pole. The day came for the school competition and we were chosen to dance at the park. It was a great honor. 

Then came the real work. All the girls had to have matching dresses and the boys had to have matching vests (with dark pants)..and our mothers were supposed to make the costumes. My mother made the dress, which I remember was green, as were given the fabric at school. I have no idea what would have happened if my mother did not know how to sew. On the appointed day we dressed up our costumes and went to the park. It was exciting!

There were lots and lots of MayPoles standing in the park. There was a huge school band ready to play the music. We found our special MayPole with the green and white ribbons and got ready for the dance. We were all so proud to be dancing in the Park. The band started playing and I remember thinking it sounded different from what we danced to at school because at school we listened to the music on a record player and this was live. The music was the same but it was different. They played the first round of music and we all waited for our cue and then we started twisting our ribbons around the pole. Our class made our finest design on our pole and so did the other classes. Each class had a different set of colors so the poles were decorated in green and white and pink and red and yellow and on and on. It seemed like the whole town was there watching us dance around the MayPoles. It was a special day.

So, as this is May 1, I'm wondering if there are any classes "out there" that are dancing around a MayPole in their special matching dresses and vests? It's a fun little memory. School has changed. I remember teaching 4th grade many years later, and we never danced around a MayPole. I would tell my classes about my memory of the MayPole Dance and one time we made a make-shift MayPole from the tetherball pole. My "kids" thought it was fun. And it was!