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This might be a stretch for some, but does anybody remember the May Day Celebrations of the May Pole, May Baskets and the May Queen celebrated at local schools in Washington?

I vaguely remember the first time I heard anyone talking about May Day, the May Queen and the May Pole. I was maybe four or five years old when I heard about one of the local young ladies being a May Queen when a neighbor was talking about her niece Arimentha.

At the Washington Colored School (as it was called in 1950) located at Seventh and Bridge Streets, Miss Arimentha Pugh had been crowned the May Queen by Principal William Daniels. Her escort was Hilton Battle. When I heard about Arimentha being May Queen, I thought being May Queen was very special, like being a princess. Later in grade school, I got to experience May Day celebrations myself.

Our teachers taught us how to make paper flowers and baskets for May Day. A flagpole on the school’s campus was decorated with colorful crepe paper streamers and ribbons. The children held the end of the streamers or ribbons and danced and walked around the pole intertwining the ribbons. A girl was selected to be May Queen, and a young man was chosen to be her escort.

It was a day of celebrations and no classwork. Many students remembered playing games like ‘Skip to My Lou, the Hokey Pokey, the Bunny Hop and the Mexican Hat Dance. Many local communities and their schools also celebrated May Day.

We had special treats and refreshments to enjoy. We made the paper baskets and flowers called a ‘May Basket’ that we secretly left on the doorstep or porch for the elders in our communities, and we enjoyed a day outside the classroom.

May Day was a day of celebration with other meanings. It was rooted in both ancient traditions and the 19th century labor movement. It is celebrated as a day to welcome the beginning of summer in many parts of the world. In the labor movement it’s known as International Worker’s Day, commemorating the fight and struggles for an eight-hour workday and worker’s rights. In the United States, May Day was first celebrated on May 1st 1886.

I did not realize all that May Day meant as a young school student. All I knew was that it was a big day of fun for us as kids with a day off from class work. I wonder if school children today still celebrate May Day.