May 1

A lot of people here in the south aren’t aware of May day practices. They know of the pole and such, but, they never grew up doing what us “northerners” did after school on May first.

On May first, most every child was eager for the end of school to come. We would all race home one hundred mils an hour so that we could rip open the package of Dixie cups and pipe cleaners, to facet this rushed basket of sorts. In an assembly line fashion (if mom was there to help) she’d poke the holes in the sides with the scissors and you’d masterfully make the pipe cleaner into a handle. Might you add here, notice the smile that would cross upon your face if you became creative and twisted two different color pipe cleaners, or if you braided three different colors together to make THEE most amazing basket EVER CREATED IN HISTORY?  For the most part, back then, we were easy to please.

Then, you would have to pop the popcorn on the stove, in oil (really, you all never did this?) because that was the filler. I think some of the best May Day baskets were filled with one or more of the following:

Popcorn

Licorice

Suckers

Jelly Beans

Hershey Kisses (but only after the popcorn was cooled off, Oiy what a mess if not)

Peppermint Candies

Gum (also only after the popcorn was cooled off)

Caramels

Then, after making what felt like HUNDREDS of May Day baskets (if you hadn’t already done this) you had to strategize who could run the fastest, who you wanted to have kiss you and who you definitely did NOT want to pinch you.

Here were the rules. For your friends of the same sex, you had to place the basket on the door step, ring the doorbell (or knock) and run like Hell. If they caught you they got to pinch you!

For your friends of the opposite sex, they might have been friends but some boys (in my case) see, they had cooties, so you didn’t want them to kiss you. You’d better run like Hell after setting that basket on their door step and ringing the bell. But THEN.. oh glorious smooches, there were the ones you wanted to you know, slow it down a bit. There’s a smooch involved and you aren’t going to blow it see? Set the basket down, ring the bell and run.. more like prance slow enough to get caught, but NOT to look obvious. Oh the kisses…