Next week is the beginning of May, which includes the celebration of May Day on the first of the month. This holiday is often celebrated in the United States by making May baskets that are usually filled with flowers or treats and left on someone’s doorstep. The giver rings the bell and runs away hoping that the receiver does not catch them and if they are caught a kiss will be exchanged.
In other parts of the world, mainly Western Europe, Maypole dancing is a tradition that signals the end of winter. Participants form a circle around an erected pole to perform the dance. This pole is usually decorated with flags, flowers, garlands, etc., before the event starts. Performers revolve around the pole holding a ribbon, the other end of which is tied to the pole. They first dance in a direction intertwining the ribbon on the pole; later, they perform a similar dance in the reverse direction to unravel the intertwined ribbon.
This image in Nebraska Memories shows students at the Nebraska State Normal School at Kearney (now the University of Nebraska at Kearney) performing a Maypole dance. Maypole dances were held every May from 1912 to 1937; this photograph captures one of the earlier dances.
Many other images of campus life are available as part of the
University of Nebraska at Kearney collection.
Visit
Nebraska Memories to search for or browse through many more historical images digitized from photographs, negatives, postcards, maps, lantern slides, books and other materials.
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. Nebraska Memories is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see
http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information, or contact
Beth Goble, Government Information Services Director, or
Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.
