Month: May 2024

May Day Festivities, 1913

In 1909, the college began hosting an annual “May Fete” or “May Day” celebration, organized by the Women’s Athletic Association. The event would begin with a procession around the campus, led by a trumpeter (dressed in medieval livery), then the College marching band, followed by all seniors wearing their caps & gowns, followed by the elected “May Queen” and her court, then the juniors, followed by the sophomores, followed by the freshman (students from each class were dressed in a different types of folk costumes or gowns), all carrying elaborate flower garlands. A Maypole was erected in central campus, in front of Blair Hall (as seen in this picture from 1913), and different classes took turns “winding” the red & black streamers around the pole, dancing to particular songs played by the college band, accompanied by the glee club. There were also a series of elaborately choreographed “flower drills,” that are frankly mysterious to the 21^st-century observer, but which contemporaries found captivating. The May Day festivities of 1913, pictured here, also included groups of local school children who dressed as butterflies, violets, the four winds, and autumn leaves, each of whom danced with a specific class to represent a particular season of the year. It was one of the defining moments of the spring semester, during this era.