The author and a classmate on May Day 1951
On May 1 or so – May Day – The Village green proudly boasted six or seven tall maypoles, each with very long pastel-colored streamers neatly hanging straight down the pole and out onto the green grass. Some were shorter for the younger children. We had practiced with our teachers for a week or two in advance and were excited and ready. We understood the object was to weave the ribbons into a pretty pattern tightly down the pole. (The Greenfield Village Schools loved weaving in any form.) When complete, the pole would look rather as if it had been wrapped in an Easter basket. And we would have fun doing this. I’m sure we were offered the sanitized history of May Pole Dancing.
On the day of the event, we dressed up in pastel-colored dresses or boy-sized suits and stood at our assigned place at the end of each ribbon ready to do the May Pole Dance. The poles stood in readiness; the children excited. Next, each teacher told her class to pick up their ends of the large pastel ribbons holding them tightly in their hands. We were alternated boy-girl, boy-girl. The next step was to face your “partner”. The boys were all to be facing one way, and the girls facing them, opposite, all still tightly grasping their ribbons. When the music began, we skipped in and out of each other around the May pole, laughing or smiling or seriously concentrating or occasionally dropping the ribbon. When we were done I remember feeling a great sense of accomplishment, although it was rare that the ribbons around the pole were perfectly placed in a basket-weave pattern. It was great fun regardless and I absolutely loved everything about this dance.
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