Let's Bring Back May Day Posies!
There’s been a long tradition of honoring May Day (May 1) with flowers. I’d love to see a return to secretly leaving May Day flower posies on the front doors of your neighbors and friends!
May Day originated as a pre-Christian festival celebrating Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers and gardens. Flora is typically depicted as a beautiful young woman with flowers in her hair, what an archetype! Another May Day celebration that goes back millennia is the Festival of Beltane, which was enjoyed by the Celts of the British Isles. This festival honored the return of life and fertility to the world, and May 1 was thought to mark the division between the dark (winter) and the light (summer). Beltane typically featured bonfires, other fire displays and field frolicking. More excellent traditions! Traditional British May Day rites and celebrations include Morris dancing, crowning of the May Queen and maypole dancing.
Roman Catholics honor the Blessed Mother Mary during the entire month of May. Religious observances include holding a May procession with boys and girls dressed in their First Communion finest, and crowning a statue of the BVM with garland of flowers. When I was a young girl, my mother encouraged me to put fresh flowers in a small vase in front of my Mary statue every day in May. We used wildflowers such as violets, lily of the valley, lilacs and crabapple blossoms. Loved to do that!
Leaving flower posies on your neighbor’s doors on May 1 continues to this day in parts of England. It’s so easy to do. Buy or pick some pretty spring flowers and greens, tuck them into a paper cone, jelly jar, or similar container, and tie on some ribbon to the container for hanging the flowers from a doorknob. You could simply leave a little jar of flowers on your neighbor’s doorstep too. The key is to do it early in the day, before people are up. I’m so taken with this idea that I offer May Day floral posies on my website, with reduced pricing if you buy two or more (one for friend, one for you!). These mini-arrangements are placed in a reusable glass jelly jar, inside a recyclable cardboard container with ribbon handles. The flowers are locally grown and will last for 5-7 days. Watch the tulips grow!
With people still limiting their exposure to other folks right now, the floral posies are a sweet, fragrant way to connect with your neighbors and friends. Beflower their doorknobs on May 1! Enjoy!