I do not have a gift for poetry and Spring Season is such a beautiful time that the best way I can do it justice is to borrow from some of the great poets:
Indeed, the “merry month of May!” When I was a young girl, our community church would sponsor a May Breakfast, always held on May first, excepting on Sundays when it would be pushed back one day.
Hundreds of advance tickets were sold, and still a few at the door, as our guests were seated and treated in long-tables rows to an all-you-could-eat smorgasbord of eggs, ham, bacon, sausage, biscuits, corn bread and hot clam cake fritters. Baskets and platters were passed around the table and refilled again and again. Coffee and juices and pitchers of water were nearby and every place set was real china.
Every girl from the church, over the age of 13 looked forward to this one special day of missing a school day and being a table-server. So exciting was that day! We’d arise at 4:30 am and dress in long prairie dresses, such as those worn in the late 1800’s Midwest farm women. Bustles and head caps completed those outfits, usually sewn by our mothers or ladies of the church union. Flat shoes, stockings and excited smiles we were ready to go. My mother drove my two sisters and I when it was still dark. Inside we took our places at tables, or in my mother’s case in the kitchen at the “egg station”. Men cooked meats and fried fritters.
This was the beginning of spring, in our hearts, and the event itself famous state-wide. In the church foyer “may baskets” decorated with colorful paper and ribbons and filled with penny candies were sold and all of us as servers would hope there might be some leftover for us as gifts for our hard work.
Outside (In fair weather) a large maypole was erected with long, colorful cloth sashes. Younger children were taught a May dance around the pole, weaving in and our and around one another, creating a woven pattern on it.
This was a magical day, a day of excitement, aliveness, merriment, community, zest and energy. May Day ushered in all the rites and treasures and pleasures of spring at its best, In both the serving of a special meal, and the feeling of newness in our hearts upon each passing year.
Older now, I still harbor many fond memories; and they usher in my spring “renewal” year after year.
“Let’s go a-Maying”…..
Indeed, the “merry month of May!” When I was a young girl, our community church would sponsor a May Breakfast, always held on May first, excepting on Sundays when it would be pushed back one day.
Hundreds of advance tickets were sold, and still a few at the door, as our guests were seated and treated in long-tables rows to an all-you-could-eat smorgasbord of eggs, ham, bacon, sausage, biscuits, corn bread and hot clam cake fritters. Baskets and platters were passed around the table and refilled again and again. Coffee and juices and pitchers of water were nearby and every place set was real china.
Every girl from the church, over the age of 13 looked forward to this one special day of missing a school day and being a table-server. So exciting was that day! We’d arise at 4:30 am and dress in long prairie dresses, such as those worn in the late 1800’s Midwest farm women. Bustles and head caps completed those outfits, usually sewn by our mothers or ladies of the church union. Flat shoes, stockings and excited smiles we were ready to go. My mother drove my two sisters and I when it was still dark. Inside we took our places at tables, or in my mother’s case in the kitchen at the “egg station”. Men cooked meats and fried fritters.
This was the beginning of spring, in our hearts, and the event itself famous state-wide. In the church foyer “may baskets” decorated with colorful paper and ribbons and filled with penny candies were sold and all of us as servers would hope there might be some leftover for us as gifts for our hard work.
Outside (In fair weather) a large maypole was erected with long, colorful cloth sashes. Younger children were taught a May dance around the pole, weaving in and our and around one another, creating a woven pattern on it.
This was a magical day, a day of excitement, aliveness, merriment, community, zest and energy. May Day ushered in all the rites and treasures and pleasures of spring at its best, In both the serving of a special meal, and the feeling of newness in our hearts upon each passing year.
Older now, I still harbor many fond memories; and they usher in my spring “renewal” year after year.