May Day
Yesterday was May 1st. May Day. I did some research and found that in the late 19th century, May 1st was designated International Workers’ Day. According to Wikipedia, in 1927 the voice call “Mayday” replaced the Morse code for SOS because it corresponded to the French pronunciation of the expression “m’aidez” which translates to “help me”. But when I was a little kid, we celebrated May Day by making baskets out of construction paper. We filled the basket with candy and some flowers, hung it on the doorknob of a favorite friend, rang the doorbell or knocked and then ran like crazy so as not to be found out. Its original purpose was a way of expressing romantic love — and in the really small town where I grew up, it had morphed into a ritual among younger kids and had no involvement with romantic entanglement. It was a sweet little tradition and I remember it being a lot of fun.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/npr-history-dept/2015/04/30/402817821/a-forgotten-tradition-may-basket-day
I too did that as a child. I learned in school how to weave a paper basket. There was a vacant lot nearby where lots of wildflowers grew and of a few dandelions were also included.