Title:
May baskets were a generous way to celebrate spring
Author:
Carol W. Kimball
Subjects:
May baskets and customs
Mystic's naughty baskets
Mystic's naughty baskets
Object ID:
Kim10-081
Object Name:
Scrapbook
Category:
8: Communication Artifact
Subcategory:
Documentary Artifact
Publisher:
The Day
Publication Place:
New London, CT
Pubication Date:
05/08/2006
Collection:
Carol W. Kimball
Summary:
May baskets were once common but the custom of hanging them for special friends must have gone out of style after World War II. May baskets were usually made of cardboard heavily decorated with pastel crepe paper. Oatmeal boxes were great to use. The basket was filled with small candies and cookies and topped with real flowers. The baskets were secretly deposited at a friend's front door where one would ring the bell before hiding in the yard. When your friend found the basket, she had to look for you and chase you before you were usually invited inside to celebrate. Some insist the baskets must be hung on May 1, but in Quaker Hill we hung them all during the month of May. May Day has been celebrated for centuries in England, way back to the Druids who observed the festival of Beltane, an ancient Celtic May Day. Betty Law told me of a local variant which was new to me. In Mystic, people sometimes hung "naughty baskets" on the doors of persons they disliked and one has only to guess what those baskets held.
People:
Law, Betty
Search Terms:
May baskets
Druids
festival of Beltane
ancient Celtic May Day
Mystic's naughty baskets
Druids
festival of Beltane
ancient Celtic May Day
Mystic's naughty baskets