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Commemorative
1/5/08 09:41Hooray, hooray, the First of May!
Outdoor swimming* begins today!
For several years when I lived in NYC I was part of The Company of the Silver Swan, a group that did a maypole dance and pageant in Central Park. One year I was dancing outside the park, hoping to lure passers-by in as audience, and jogged when I shoulda jigged, came down on wrong and sprained my entire foot so badly I was limping for months. I still managed to limp into the park to play my part in the pageant (we did a Robin Hood play and I had a cool quarterstaff fight as Maid Marian), although I let my fellows dance the pole without me. The next year we had an epic broadsword battle between Spring and Winter (I got to play Spring, with a hot pink fedora and pink and purple draperies. Hey, it was the 80s; a lot of things seemed to make sense then). And the year I was pregnant with Sarcasm Girl I danced the pole: the world's least virginal Virgin (the kid was born two days later). Our theory was that on May Day morning you woke up a virgin again, in honor of and all that. Sunshine and balmy weather aren't the only benefits of May Day.
Today, here, the sun is shining; it is cool and breezy. There are flowers in the air, and birds are chattering. Happy May Day; may your maypoles be bright and upstanding, may you root for Spring to vanquish Winter, and may Robin Hood win over the Sheriff yet again.
*also rendered as Outdoor fucking in some versions.
Outdoor swimming* begins today!
For several years when I lived in NYC I was part of The Company of the Silver Swan, a group that did a maypole dance and pageant in Central Park. One year I was dancing outside the park, hoping to lure passers-by in as audience, and jogged when I shoulda jigged, came down on wrong and sprained my entire foot so badly I was limping for months. I still managed to limp into the park to play my part in the pageant (we did a Robin Hood play and I had a cool quarterstaff fight as Maid Marian), although I let my fellows dance the pole without me. The next year we had an epic broadsword battle between Spring and Winter (I got to play Spring, with a hot pink fedora and pink and purple draperies. Hey, it was the 80s; a lot of things seemed to make sense then). And the year I was pregnant with Sarcasm Girl I danced the pole: the world's least virginal Virgin (the kid was born two days later). Our theory was that on May Day morning you woke up a virgin again, in honor of and all that. Sunshine and balmy weather aren't the only benefits of May Day.
Today, here, the sun is shining; it is cool and breezy. There are flowers in the air, and birds are chattering. Happy May Day; may your maypoles be bright and upstanding, may you root for Spring to vanquish Winter, and may Robin Hood win over the Sheriff yet again.
*also rendered as Outdoor fucking in some versions.