In Canada, May has for many years included a number of activities. May 1st is now a political day, especially for labour. Then there's Mother's Day, more commercial now, and the 24th of May, a holiday weekend, the Queen's official birthday in Canada, (nowadays whichever Monday is closest), also known as Commonwealth Day and celebrated as National Patriotes Day, Journée nationale des patriotes in Quebec. The 24th was Queen Victoria's birthday; Canadians have long memories.
May Day Queen and her court, c. 1887, photographer S. J. Thompson.
Photograph courtesy New Westminster Public Library, Accession 2728. A list of May Queens is here on New Westminster Heritage.
In a few areas, notably in New Westminster, May is the month for folk festivals and yes, May pole dancing.
May is also the time to really get working in the vegetable garden and towards the end of the month, time to think about bedding plants and, when my parents were young, after cleaning up, to put on your white shoes and attend a garden tea party or two in a new (or perhaps refurbished) spring hat.
Spring hat sale, Gordon Drysdale Ltd., Vancouver, 1917.
Vancouver Daily World,
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Friday, May 11, 1917, page 5. Clipped at Newspapers.com, 3 May 2016. I love Newspapers.com Look for me there as MDiane_Rogers.
No comments:
Post a Comment