May Day presents a perfect celebration for social distancing

Friday, May 1, is May Day, an ancient celebration tailormade for social distancing, because one of the traditions is to fill a small basket with flowers and treats, put it on someone’s doorstep, ring the doorbell and run away. It’s sort of like Halloween in reverse.

Some people still make Maypoles (not to be confused with maples, which are trees; May Day might have been created to honor the sacredness of trees), and that also works during a time of small gatherings. 

Different colored strips of cloth, ropes, plastic or whatever you have on hand can be attached to a clothesline or some other fairly tall pole-like structure. 

A group of friends and I did this some years ago, using ribbon. We each took hold of different-colored ribbon and danced around the pole. I don’t remember how long we danced or who gave the signal to stop, but I do remember that it was fun to celebrate a millennia-old rite welcoming the warm weather.  

According to legend, maypoles may represent the world axis. The whole Maypole tradition is apparently Germanic, with deep roots in America. Many of us trace our lineage back to the Anglo Saxons, a German tribe that arrived in England in the fifth century. May Day is like a hybrid of Halloween from Ireland and Dia de los Muertos from Mexico. 

If you don’t want to make a Maypole, try asking your friends and neighbors – via email, text, on social media or across the back fence – who they plan to vote for in June or November. As long as you do it this month, that too is a May poll. It might not lead to dancing, but it could result in an argument or a yelling match, which are also longstanding American traditions.

You could also gather children or grandchildren – or adults who don’t embarrass easily – for a May Day parade around the back yard. 

There is even a May Day Eve, honoring Saint Walpurgis, on the night of April 30 and the following May 1. It commemorates Saint Walpurga, an Anglo-Saxon missionary canonized May 1, 870. She helped her brothers, Willibald and Winibald, and St. Boniface convert pagan Germans to Christianity.

Mayday is, of course, also a well-known distress signal. It originated at Croydon Airport in London in 1921 and comes, apparently from the French word m’aider, which means “help me.” 

So, if you’re struggling to make a May Day basket or pole, just give a “mayday” shout and then start looking online for advice – the newest and most American tradition of all.