April 30th is May Eve — Summer is Almost Here!
May Day memories.
When I was a girl, on the first day of May, my sister and I would weave little baskets made out of paper, and fill them with flowers from our yard. Then we’d choose a few neighbors to surprise. We’d place a basket on their front doorknob, ring the bell, and run away. Our mother had taught us this May Day tradition, which might not be around much anymore — but could be again — a simple, sweet way to brighten someone’s day.
May Day is something my daughter was involved in every year from first to eighth grade — joining in the annual school pageant at her Waldorf school. We would gather as many flowers as we could the day before, and upon our arrival at school on May Day morning, we would add ours to the huge pile of blossoms the other children had brought — so that everyone could make flower crowns to wear for celebrating the big day. All the children wore white, and delighted in the colorful beribboned Maypole dance, the tug-of-war, the egg race, and other outdoor activities that lasted all day.
I always loved this festive day, but I never really thought much about where it originated. Since a Waldorf education is based on the philosophy of Rudolph Steiner, who founded the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart, Germany in 1919, it makes sense that he would incorporate into the curriculum this European event.
May Eve: time for flower-gathering and frolicking.
When Britain was occupied by the Romans, to welcome Spring and anticipate the arrival of Summer, they honored Flora, the goddess of flowers, and Maya — where we get the name for our month of May — the goddess of Spring. These celebrations combined into what became May Day traditions.
During the Middle Ages, on May Eve, folks would venture into the fields and the woods to gather flowers and greenery to make garlands. Young people went out together enjoying the warmer weather — a chance to frolic unsupervised.
Sometimes they’d end up sleeping outdoors. In 1583, the Elizabethan Puritan Philip Stubbes disapproved of May Day’s Maypole dancing and of May Eve. He wrote: Of fortie, three score or a hundred maides going to the wood overnight / there have scarcely the third part of them returned home again undefiled. The Maypole was even banned for awhile in England during the Reformation; but the prohibition didn’t last long, and its popularity spread across Europe and Scandinavia.
Irish folklore says that the fairies come out on May Eve to battle over the ripening crops. The Celtic tradition divides the year into two, with the May festival of Beltaine — six months after Samhain (Halloween) — marking the end of the dark time of the year and welcoming the brighter half, when cattle were set loose to graze. The occasion of May Eve meant that the supernatural was expected — fairies and witches were bound to appear — so precautions had to be taken to avoid their trickery and enchantments.
Origins in Germany.
May Eve is called Walpurgisnacht (“Walpurgis Night”) in Germany, named after Walburga, an Anglo-Saxon nun who lived in the 8th century. She moved from her native Wessex to Dorset, and then to Germany, where she reportedly healed and converted many. She died in the year 779. On April 30th, 870, her remains were enshrined in Eichstatt, where soon a mystifying oil — believed to possess healing powers — began flowing from the rock around her tomb.
Before Walburga, April 30th had been associated with witches. As traditions around Walpurgis Night developed, it had long been believed that witches might gather to conjure up more winter, but that they could be expelled by making loud noises. So the church rang its bells, and the townsfolk banged pots and pans, cracked whips, and slammed doors. They also lit fires and decorated their houses with boughs and garlands, which also worked to keep the witches away.
As late as the 19th century, a Walpurgis Night witches’ sabbath was depicted in Goethe’s well-known play, Faust. Russian composer Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain was inspired by a midsummer’s night witches’ assembly on Mount Brocken. Nowadays, German children celebrating May Eve might dress up as witches, devils, pixies or gnomes.
A Scandinavian tradition.
May Day celebrations begin on April 30th in Scandinavia, and in some parts of Europe and the United Kingdom.
In Sweden, the Germans’ Walpurgisnacht became Valborgsmässoafton. Swedes gather together to light bonfires, and they celebrate Spring by listening to music, choral singing and upbeat speeches. Since 1892, Stockholm has held the country’s largest observance of the holiday at Skansen, its historical open-air museum where an enormous bonfire is lit, giving the massive audience a spectacular view over the city.
Young lovers — Swedish students feeling a bit of Spring fever — throw parties on May Eve to mark the arrival of Spring, even if there’s still snow on the ground. It also happens to be King Carl XVI Gustaf’s birthday, which gives people the opportunity for plenty of flag-waving and additional revelry.
In Finland, where May Eve is called Vappu, students jam the streets, where they dance and sing boisterously, wearing their white velvet school caps and donning flowers. The festivities continue with May Day parades, picnics and live music.
Here in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, I’m enjoying the trees that rain flower petals, the tulips popping up everywhere, and the fact that we’ve just turned on the air conditioning.
How are you getting ready for May Day?
©2023 Janis Hunt Johnson and CS Renewal Ministries. All rights reserved.
This is the 13th installment of my “Every Day is a Holiday” series — exploring the many wonderful ways humans celebrate. If you like this piece, please help sustain my work by clapping for it, and please kindly pass it on, follow me and subscribe too!
I have been a professional writer and editor since 1983. I’m the author of two books — Five Smooth Stones: Our Power to Heal Without Medicine Through the Science of Prayer, which won Finalist, Spirituality category, in the 2010 National Indie Excellence Awards, and my upcoming second book, tentatively titled Seven Words to Freedom, Eight Days a Week: The Healing Power of Living Prayer, in which I take a deep dive into the original Hebrew of the Shema and demonstrate its power to heal. I am also Contributing Editor at Flourish Digital Magazine.
For my writings on interfaith spirituality and healing, see my ongoing Medium series, “Christian Science Redux.” For humor and newstalgia,* see my Medium series, “60-Something.” Connect with me on Goodreads, Pinterest, Twitter, and across cyberspace. #EveryDayIsAHoliday
* newstalgia: My word for loving the past with an eye toward a hope-filled future.
