Every Mountie has heard of or participated in Founders Day, Charity Day, Field Day, or Senior skip day. We all love and celebrate these days filled with tradition and sisterhood. However, there is one holiday that is missing. When searching the archives for old yearbooks, The Campanile came across something that caught my eye. In a pile of old pictures and documents, one photo stood out from the rest; a picture of past Mounties celebrating a holiday I had only seen in movies: May Day. The image showed girls in dresses performing the May Day Maypole dance.
What is May Day?
May Day is a European/Pagan celebration marking the beginning of summer. It is celebrated on this day because May first acts as the halfway mark between the spring equinox and June solstice. The holiday dates back to ancient times and has been celebrated by Pagan Scandinavian and Irish tribes for centuries.
The day holds many traditions such as crowning a May Queen, the Maypole dance, bonfires, and flower crowns. Since its origin, the celebration of May Day has become adopted by many cultures. For example, it has been celebrated by Celtic regions, Germanic countries, England, the Romans, and even Catholics. You may have taken part in your church’s “May crowning” without realizing it was derived from May Day!
What is the Maypole Dance?
The Maypole Dance is a very important and loved element of the holiday that has been celebrated for centuries. Historically, a wooden pole, usually garlanded with greenery, ribbons, and flowers is placed in the center of town, the village green, or in the forest. The dancers are usually women and young girls dressed in white. Each dancer takes a ribbon connected to the top of the pole and dances to music in a specific step pattern. The pattern weaves the ribbons to the pole, resulting in a beautiful monument symbolizing unity, fertility, and the summer to come.
Why did The Mount stop celebrating May Day?
Other than the photos discovered in the archives, The Campanile could not find any other information about The Mounts celebration of May Day or why they stopped celebrating. However, we would love to bring this holiday back to our school. Unity and sisterhood are two very important values that The Mount holds and we think that May Day fully encompasses both of those principles. Bringing back this holiday to our community would be beneficial to Mounties as they learn new traditions and represent the strong friendships founded at our school through the Maypole dance.
