TORRANCE TRIBUNE May 7, 2015 Page 5 The Merry Month of May By TerriAnn Ferren Photos courtesy of TerriAnn Ferren The springtime all around us reminds us that the month of May is here, the month of May Day, Mother’s Day, Armed Forces Day, and Memorial Day. Last week, I asked my parents about the beginning of May and the Maypole and if they ever celebrated the day in school when they were young. My daddy told me on or near May first, when he was a little boy in grade school, he remembers having a May parade and a Maypole to celebrate spring. In preparation for the big parade at school, my daddy told me he decorated his bicycle (big tricycle) spokes and wheels with flowers and colored paper, dressed up, and wore a paper hat as he rode his bike to school all in celebration of May Day. When I gave him a look of, “are you kidding me?” my mother nodded affirmatively and said she even had a photograph of daddy when he was a little boy all dressed up in his May regalia. That I had to see! It was the first time I had ever seen the photograph and I couldn’t believe how sweet he looked. Then I asked my daddy about the day and he told me, “My Aunt May and my mother decorated my bike. The left rear wheel was decorated with daisies. I think I wore a red sash. Barbara White, my neighbor had the same color sash and vest. We rode to school and it was only a few blocks away at Main Street School in Los Angeles – on Main Street and 53rd. Then we got in a parade line, and had a parade all around school and didn’t do much else that day. This was in 1935, and it was called the Spring Festival.” Then I asked my mom what she did, and she said, “We didn’t have a parade, we had Maypole dances at Adair Street School in Los Angeles. Everybody would hold a long ribbon secured to the top of the Maypole and we would intertwine it so that it ended up looking really pretty at the end. We would also do dances and the person behind you would be your partner.” She told me she remembered one of the songs and began singing, “I am captain of the horse Marines; I feed my horse on pork and beans. I teach the ladies how to dance, for that is the style in the army, I teach the ladies how to dance, I teach the ladies how to dance, I teach the ladies how to dance for that’s the style in the army.” My mom also told me she had flowers on her head and there were flowers everywhere. Irene Barlough told me, “We had a parade and a Maypole and we had ribbons and wore fancy dresses to school. I went to Miramonte School on East 68th Street near Compton and Hooper. My mother [who was from Hungary] told me May Day is big in Europe and everybody goes to church.” Irene’s recollections mirrored my parents’ and it must have been the norm in Los Angeles long ago when they all were young. Checking with my trusty Encyclopedia Americana Volume 18, I was reminded that May Day is, “The popular name of the first day of the month of May, on which from a very early period general festivities took place. May has generally been regarded as a time for gladness. The outbreak into new life and beauty which marks nature instinctively excites.” Long ago all over Europe, people in every village would celebrate the first of May by setting up tall poles (sometimes fixed) and collecting flowers. Then they would dance around the pole. In kindergarten I remember having a May Day Parade once and there was a pole decorated with crepe paper and flowers. Hanging from the top of the pole were long pieces of crepe paper, I think, or thin rope that we would hold and then skip around in a circle. But I can remember doing that only once or twice and it wasn’t nearly as exciting as what my parents remember when they were small growing up in Los Angeles. May is also the month when the Catholic Church celebrates the tradition of crowning Mary, the mother of Jesus, with a flower wreath. All over England, and in many other countries, various celebrations take place, usually involving flowers to mark the beginning of May. Many countries trace the origins of their celebrations to pagan rituals. But May Day celebrations took a different turn in 1889, when in Europe; they adopted the day as international Labor Day. I can remember watching television newsreels of other countries parading their military might in front of their citizens on this day. Not my favorite way of celebrating spring, I have to admit. Then, I asked someone from another country about May Day. Rita Welche, who moved to this country (and the city of Torrance) with her family in the 1980s from Brussels, told me what she used to do on May Day in Belgium. “May Day is a big deal. But it is our May Day – it is the official day of all the people who work. It is a big, big deal. We get the day off and if you are lucky enough to have it fall on a Thursday, you get Friday off too! It isn’t like May Day in Sweden – with flower things. Offices close and everybody gets the day off. There is no school – that’s for sure. We buy little sprigs of Lily of the Valley [which is very expensive] because it brings luck to the one who receives it. People would sell them [sprigs of lily of the valley] in the streets and [you would] give them to loved ones or sweethearts. Those things were expensive because it was like Valentine’s Day.” Even after Rita moved to the United States, she told me she would always send her mother, Solange Paternoster, a tiny bouquet of Lily of the Valley; after all she wouldn’t be considered a good daughter if she didn’t. Rita’s sweet mother passed away last year and this will be the first May Day she won’t be sending flowers to her mom. In addition to May Day, Rita told me May is also filled with religious TerriAnn in Torrance See TerriAnn, page 9 Burkley & Brandlin LLP A T T O R N E Y S A T L AW Living Trusts/Wills, Probate, Employment Law, Personal Injury Trust and Estates Litigation, Business Litigation, Civil Litigation 310-540-6000 *AV Rated (Highest) Martindale - Hubbell / **Certified Specialist Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law, State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization STARS & STRIPES A M E R I C A N M A D E C L O T H I N G S T O R E COME CHECK US OUT! 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Generic equivalents are equal to their "brand" counterparts in Active Ingredients, Dosage, Safety, Strength, Quality, Performance and Intended use. It may vary in colour, shape, size, cost and appearance. Thomas Lancaster on his decorated tricycle en route to Main Street School in Los Angeles. Barbara White and Thomas Lancaster, May Day 1935 - Los Angeles California.
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