A garland of flowers ” the dewey honeysuckle of early morning flower gathering; the warm passion blossom of the afternoon’s play and the spice carnations of the plays of the Irish poets that Frayne Williams read to us.
Thus, a chronicler romantically recorded the celebration of May Day at The Bishop’s School on May 4, 1929 in the El Miradero yearbook. May Day was an important annual event at Bishop’s from 1910 until 1948, when the event was changed into a Parents’ Day celebration with students demonstrating athletics on the campus.
Today, the May Days at Bishop’s ” celebrating its centennial this year ” seem locked in history, a past recalling far more gossamer and ethereal times when young women in white gowns with flower garlands in their hair waltzed around a maypole on the lawn wrapping beautiful ribbons around it in an annual rite of spring.
They celebrated a tradition dating to the ancient Druids on the British Isles where the maypole celebration began. In the Middle Ages, practically every English village had a maypole in its center brought each year from nearby forests and wrapped during a day of festivals and rejoicing with violets. Villages would often vie with each other for the tallest pole. Puritans coming to America frowned on the May Day tradition as too frivolous for the New World, but the glory of spring triumphed and May Days in the Victorian era and on into the early 20th century became popular entertainments all around the country.
When Bishop’s was launched as a private educational facility for young women, May Day seemed as natural a function for the campus as the celebration of Easter and Christmas. Besides the maypole wrapping, the program for the day customarily included an outdoor dramatic presentation or a literary reading. It began with students gathering flowers and making garlands.
A May Day queen ” the senior class president ” was crowned. She watched the various entertainments from her throne on the lawn as the “court” gathered round. Dramatic presentations were in keeping with the light spirit of the day and typically would include plays such as Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Besides the Bishop’s Dramatic Club, singing and dance groups also participated.
Looking at the old photographs from Bishop’s May Days of the past, one can only review what a happy and innocent event it seemed to have been: Cameos of history lost in time, yet as immediately discernible as pre-Raphaelite paintings. The flower garlands still seem to smell sweet. Youth rejoices. Spring is here. It is “the merry, merry month of May.”
(Ed. note: Due to technical difficulties, this column, originally scheduled for May 1 or 8, was postponed to this week. Watch for the June chapter of Reflections later this month.)
