A Traditional Celebration
May Day has long been a celebration of spring and warmer weather. People in the past lived by a seasonal calendar and May 1st marked a special day on it for many of them. Many cultures have celebrated May Day for centuries and their traditions and customs often included dance, games, and libations to celebrate spring and the coming of summer. The Frontier Culture Museum will host a May Fair on May 11, 2019 to demonstrate and discuss some of these customs and traditions.
Activities for May Fair include Maypole dancing, traditional baking, seed planting, butter making, bock beer brewing, and discussions about historic superstitions. There will even be a May Fair play performed by members of the Museum’s John Lewis Society!
Visitors are invited to enjoy some of these traditions and practices at the Museum’s outdoor exhibits and learn about early May customs in the Old World and how people on the American frontier created new customs and practices based on the American experience.
Activities
English Farm
Maypole Dancing: 10:00, 11:00, 12:30, 1:30, 2:30
Learn the Maypole ribbon dance and help decorate the maypoles
Irish Farm
Decorating the house & livestock with greenery
Learn about Celtic superstitions
German Farm
Brewing Bock beer
Cochran Pavilion
The Page County Ramblers will be playing on the Pavilion from Noon – 2:00 pm
Native American Site
Hide Work on the Eastern Woodlands Indian encampment
1740s American Farm
Field Work
Learn how these early settlers transitioned from subsistence farming to surplus farming
1820s American Farm
Traditional Baking, Superstitions & Games
To the Pennsylvania Germans, the first day of May held special magic powers and some superstitions continue even into the 20th century.
1850s American Farm
Butter Making
The profitability of butter making was higher than textile production and agricultural families adjusted to take advantage of market opportunities
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