May 1, 1948
THE SALEMITE
Page Three
MAY DAY PROQRAM
T radition
The custom of celebrating the first
of May with the gathering of flow
ers dates back, certainly to the
Eoman Floralia or Floral Games.
There are other ancient May Day
celebrations, such as the Druid feasts
in honor of Bel and the phallic
festivals of India and Egypt, but
these seem rather for the purpose
of sacrifice and are in no way con
nected with flowers.
In England in the sixteenth cen
tury it was customary for the middle
and lower classes to go out at a very
early hour in the moving to gather
flowers and hawthorn branches,
which they brought home about sun
rise to the accompaniment of music
and with great joy and merriment.
By a natural transition of ideas, they
gave the hawthorn bloom the name
of May; they called the ceremony
'’bringing home the Ma^ j they
spoke of the expedition to the woods
as ‘ ‘ group a-maying. ’
Not content with a garlanding of
their brows, their doors, and their
windows, these merry people had m
every village a fixed pole, “as high
as the mast of a vessel of a hun
dred tons”, on which each May
morning they suspended wreaths of
flowers, and around which they
danced almost the whole day. The
May-pole had its place equally with
parish church or parish stocks. The
Puritans had the May-poles uproot
ed, but after the Restoration they
were re-erected and the appropriate
rites re-commenced with great gusto.
The custom of having a Queen of
the May, seems to be a relic of the
heathen celebration; this maid ap
pears as a living representative of
the goddess Flora, whom the Eomans
worshipped on this day. Chambers
in “The Book of Days” says, “Be
it observed the May Queen did not
join in the revelries of her subjects.
She was placed in a sort of bower
or arbour, near the May-pole, there
to sit in pretty state, an object of
admiration to the whole village. It
must have been rather a dull office,
but doubtless to the female heart
it had its compensations.”
From the looks of the picture above, we’ll have the
members of the pageant in stitches this afternoon.
Those stitches in time that have provided costumes
for most of the participants were administered by the
nbove group, (left to right) Lou Myatt, Sara Burts,
Dottie CoviHgton, Dottie Smith and Bet Epps (wield
ing a wicked needle behind the machine.)
Photo courtesy of Twin City Sentinel.
Chairman: Betsy- Boney, Kinston.
Vice-Chairman: Jane MeElroy,
Glencoe, Illinois.
Nomination: Sara Clark, Reids-
ville; Nancy Wray, Reids-
ville; Mary Jane Hurt,
Charlotte.
Publicity: Janie Morris, Mocks-
ville; Joyce Privette, Day
ton, Ohio.
Costumes: Dottie Smith, Benson;
Betty Ann Epps, Gastonia.
MAY DAY COMMITTEES
Dances: lone Bradsher, Green
ville; Polly Harrop, Char
leston, W. Va.
Properties: Ruby Moye, Maury;
Katherine Ives, New Bern.
Program; Margaret Carter, Rocky
Mount; Virginia Summers,
Kings Mountain.
Music: Elizabeth Price, Monroe;
Peggy Sue Taylor, Newton.
Finance: Katherine Ballew, Mar
ion.
Entertainment: Ann Mills, More-
head City; Susan Johnson,
Charlotte; Joyce Brisson,
Lumberton; Claire Craig,
Charlotte.
Wee Blew Inn: Dot Massey, Kin
ston ; Dot Arrington,
Rocky Mount; Miriam
Bailey, Fair Bluff; Betty
I
Biles, St. Joseph, Missouri;
Claire Phelps, Scarsdale, N.
Y.; Gerry Hancock, High
Point; Ruth Lenkoski,
Springfield, Mass.
Grateful acknowledgment to:
Montaldo’s—for the dresses; Miss Green—for hglp and ideas; Morgenroth’s—for the flowers;
and Mr. Lawrence and his assistants—for the properties; to Doug Lee—for sound effects.
Synopsis
Once upon a time, when M.iy Days
were still young and when the earth
was soft and green and budding,
there lived a wonderful lady named
Mother Goose. She lived in a land
of people who truly loved her be
cause she was so good and kind to
them. This was not a land of mor
tals, however, but a land of story
book people, a land of children and
grown-ups who danced on the soft,
green' earth and sang songs all day
long to the wind and the birds and
the flowers.
It happened one May Day that two
mortal children were found asleep
in the forest of Mother Goose land
by two of her children. Little Bo
Peep and Little Boy Blue. The lit
tle mortals had been covered with
leaves by two friendly robins. The
Mother Goose children were quite
upset that mortals should be found
on that particular day because that
was the May Day on which Mother
Goose was to send a new Queen of
the May to be crowned by King Cole.
It was a wonderful event and all the
people in the land would be there
to see it. What would they think
if they should find these mortal
children here? Little Bo Peep
quickly hid the children behind a
bush just as King Cole and all his
court came into the May Dell. Oh,
what a wobderful sight!! All the
Mother Goose people came from
every corner of the land to await
the new Queen and her court—there
was the Old Woman who lived in a
shoe and all her children, Mistress
Mary and all her dancing flowers.
Jack and Jill (poor Jack still had
his head in a bandage), the Three
Blind Mice who were as impudent
as ever, old Humpty Dumpty and the
King’s Men, Jack-Be-Nimble and
Georgie Porgie and the children who
danced around the May Pole.
Suddenly there were three bright,
clear trumpets sounded tiiroughout
the forest! All the folk knew this
to be the announcement of the
Queen’s coming. As the beautiful
Queen descended in the sunlight, all
the people fell to the ground awe
struck. The Queen and her lovely
court took their places on the hill
side and a crown of sparkling dia
monds and rubies was placed on the
Queen’s head. All of Mother Goose
land rejoiced with more singing and
dancing, for the Queen was so beau
tiful and she smiled so sweetly at
them. Yes, it was a happy day for
the Mother Goose folk and they re
turned home that May Day, their
ears still ringing with the happy
tunes of the forest.
PAGEANT CHARACTERS
Babes in the Woods — Agnes Bowers, Sally Tarry
Mary Quite Contrary -— Elizabeth Price
Robins — Sara Burts, Dottie Covington
Bo Peep — Mary Bryant
Little Boy Blue — Helen Brown
Ole King Cole — Ann Carothers
Pages — Connie Purvis, Marion Ellis
Jack — Tootsie Gillespie
Jill — lone Bradsher
Miss Muffet — Ann Pleasants
Tommy Tucker — Lou Myatt
Jack Be Nimble — Carolyn Taylor
Jack Horner — Peggy Watkins
Humpty Dumpty — Martha Hershberger
Farmer’s Wife — Nancy Wray
Three Blind Mice — Ann Wicker, Beth Kitrell, Betty
Griffin
Old Woman in the Shocj— Joan Hassler
Georgie Porgie — Bitsy Green
Flowers — Jane McElroy, Polly Harrop, Ann Lanier, Lila
Fretwell, Frances Horne, Joyce Privette
Children — Eaton Seville, June Elder, Clinky Clinkscales,
Ann Pleasants, Ann Carrington, Helen Creamer
May Pole Dance — Agnes Bowers, Sally Tarry, Elaton
Seville, June Elder, Clinky Clinkscales, Ann Pleas
ants, Ann Carrington, Helen Creamer, Peggy
Watkins, Martha Scott, Lou Myatt, Bitsy Green.