May Day

Papa woke me up very early. I put on some pants, socks, and shoes and ran out. We were on our way to a May Day celebration. On May 1st, the Morris men and women dance at dawn in Takoma Park. When we got downtown, there were only two or three dancers and we were the only audience members. Soon others started arriving. The men wore brown shoes, long white socks, and short brown pants. They also wore white shirts and brown ‘shoulder belts’ over both shoulders. The women wore black shoes, long white socks, and yellow pants and vests. Both the men and women wore strips of bells on their lower legs. They did both hankie and stick dances with names such as Highland Mary. Most of the time the men and women danced separately, though twice they danced together and invited anyone who knew the dance to join them. The musicians played a fiddle, accordion, a drum, and a tin whistle. May Day is a holiday to welcome the spring. It has been celebrated in England for over 1000 years.

Today as part of our homeschooling, Papa and I each did a puppet play for the other. Afterwards, I narrated my play and papa typed it into the computer. Then I made a drawing of one of its scenes. Next I did a page in my math book on quarts, pints, and gallons and a second page on triangle numbers. Then we read two picture books with Spanish and English words. I read aloud a story from my new Ranger Rick on city foxes in England and papa read me a story about sharks. After a snack, we will go outside a play catch with a Frisbee.

My story is the next post, and illustration is right after that.