For many years now, I have woken on
May Day morning to find a small basket on my stoop. It’s often filled with
flowers, stone, chocolates, and fruits. It is the sweetest gift from our anonymous
May Day Fairy, and I found that I didn’t care who delivered it. I was able to
accept the generosity with simple gratitude. And I felt compelled to gift that
quiet joy to others in return, to spread happiness and human kindness.
There’s a long history of gifting May
Baskets to friends and neighbors, though it has mostly fallen out of fashion. In
her work Jack and Jill: A Village Story,
published in 1880, Louisa May Alcott wrote: “The job now in hand was May baskets,
for it was the custom of the children to hang them on the doors of their
friends the night before May-day.”
If you are reading this blog and
thinking that sounds like a wonderful idea, but tomorrow is May the first, these little baskets can be as simple as a paper cone filled with wildflowers
or candy with a note that says “Happy May Day!”
You can recycle baskets, tins,
planter pots to make baskets. Or you can make them out of construction paper,
weaving strips together. You can fill them with whatever small treasures you
have or can find- things to just brighten a friend or neighbors day: small
potted plants, flowers, flower seeds, candies, fruit, small gifts, candles,
homemade items, etc. The only limitation is your imagination.
Blessed Spring!
Happy May Day!
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