This clever hand crafted tea bag holder was a favor at the annual Penn Cumberland Garden Club Herb Tea held last month. The sweet perfectly formed paper cone filled with flowers looks like the ideal petite May Day basket for the fairy folk. The tradition of hanging a May Day basket has long passed us by, but we like to reminisce about the joy of finding a sweet basket, perhaps from a secret admirer, gaily swinging in the breeze on the doorknob on May Day. 
For more about the long history of May Day baskets, check out this article written by Linton Weeks in 2015 for the NPR History Department, A Forgotten Tradition: May Baskets. Here's a short excerpt: "A reporter in the Sterling, Ill., Gazette in 1871 explained the seasonal ritual this way: "A May-basket is — well, I hardly know how to describe it; but 'tis something to be hung on a door. Made of paper generally, it contains almost anything, by way of small presents you have in mind to put in it, together with your respects, best wishes — love, perhaps. It is hung after dark at the door of anybody the hanger fancies. — Which done, the said hanger knocks and scampers."
Happy May Day!
1 comment:
I love this tradition. Both of my children were born on this day and when they were little some friends would do this, but put little pieces of candy in the baskets. Then when they were a little older my daughter would do that to neighbors doors. One neighbor in particular loved it and would bring her an ice cream. Everyone was happy. Happy May Day.
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