This evening I picked wild flowers, tied some of them in little bouquets and placed them and loose flowers on our doorsteps. I do it as a remembrance for a custom my granny and I shared every year of my childhood.
Quote:
May Flowers were picked on the evening before May Day and this was often done by children who went garlanding for flowers. Yellow flowers, such as primroses, buttercups and marigolds were especially popular, possibly as they reflected the sun and summer. Furze and ferns were also put around the outside of the home. The flowers were placed on the doorsteps of houses and on windowsills. They were believed to offer luck to the house and offer protection from mystical forces - there was a strongly held belief that these were particularly active around the quarterly days. It was believed that the fairies could not enter the home as they could not pass such sweet smelling flowers.
Anyone else have unusual Mayday customs?
30 Apr 2016, 7:39 pm
