May Day Festivals in America, 1830 to the Present

Erscheinungsjahr 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7864-7722-7
Verlag: McFarland

Buch, Englisch, 280 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 178 mm x 254 mm, Gewicht: 536 g

Starting in the early 1830s, American girls and women began to hold Old English May Day festivals, complete with maypole dances, the crowning of a May Queen, and romantic plays and pageants. These festivals accelerated in popularity after 1900 at colleges and universities across the country. An important part of the traditional college experience for many women, the celebrations played a surprisingly influential role in the Progressive reform movement. <br><br>This thorough history examines the creation and development of the traditional American May Day festival. It also provides an overview of May Day celebrations at 80 specific college and universities, eight of which continue to celebrate the festival annually.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Table of Contents<br><br>Acknowledgments v<br>Introduction: “I’m to Be Queen of the May, Mother!” 1<br><br>Part I: May Day<br><br>THE MAKING OF MERRIE MAY DAY<br>1. Celebrating May Day in England before 1800 15<br>2. The Making of May Day in Merrie England 23<br>3. John Ruskin and the Whitelands College May Queen Festival 32<br>4. Merrie May Day in the New World 38<br><br>SETTING THE STAGE FOR PERFORMANCES<br>5. Physical Education for Girls and Young Women 49<br>6. “As the Child Plays, So Will the Adult Perform”: Progressive Reformers and the Playground Movement 58<br>7. The Educational, Hygienic, Civic, and Moral Benefits of Folk Dance 67<br>8. The Pageant and Festival Movement 75<br>9. The Urban Child’s May Day 85<br><br>THE COLLEGE MAY DAY FESTIVAL<br>10. The Making of the College Girl of 1900 91 11. Origins of the College May Day Pageant 98<br>12. The Play’s the Thing—College May Day Pageant Themes 107<br>13. Corydon in Arcadia—Men and May Day 120<br>14. Maypole Dances and Drills 129<br>15. Crowning the College May Queen 139<br>16. The May Queen Unthroned 148<br><br>MAY DAY FESTIVALS OF TODAY<br>17. May Day as Labor Day, Loyalty Day, Law Day, Child Health Day, and Lei Day 156<br>18. Celebrating an Old English May Day Today 164<br>Conclusion: “The Merriest Day of All the Glad New Year!” 177<br><br>Part II: The College Festivals<br><br>Agnes Scott College 185<br>Albright College 187<br>Auburn University 187<br>Bates College 187<br>Berea College 188<br>Bluffton University 189<br>Brenau <br>University 189<br>Brown University 190<br>Bryn Mawr College 190<br>Bucknell University 191<br>Carleton College 191<br>Case Western Reserve University 193<br>Chatham University 194<br>Colby College 195<br>College of Wooster 196<br>Columbia College 197<br>Converse College 198<br>DePauw University 199<br>Duke University 200<br>Earlham College 201<br>Elmira College 202<br>Goucher College 202<br>Grinnell College 203<br>Grove City College 204<br>Hollins College 206<br>Hood College 207<br>Indiana University 208<br>Iowa State University 209<br>James Madison University 210<br>Judson College 210<br>Kansas State University 211<br>Kent State University 212<br>Lebanon Valley College 213<br>Mary Baldwin College 213<br>Meredith College 214<br>Miami University 215<br>Mills College 215<br>Mount Holyoke College 217<br>Muskingum College 218<br>Newcomb College, Tulane University 219<br>New Mexico State University 220<br>Oberlin College 221<br>Oklahoma State University 222<br>Oregon State University 222<br>Pennsylvania State University 222<br>Randolph College 223<br>Rockford College 223<br>Rollins College 225<br>Russell Sage College (The Sage Colleges) 226<br>Salem College 226<br>Scripps College 227<br>Simmons College 227<br>Skidmore College 228<br>Smith College 229<br>Sweet Briar College 229<br>Trinity University 230<br>University of California at Berkeley 231<br>University of Charleston, West Virginia 231<br>University of Colorado 231<br>University of Denver 233<br>University of Idaho 234<br>University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 234<br>University of Kansas 235<br>University of Maryland 235<br>University of Minnesota 236<br>University of Missouri 237<br>University of New Hampshire 237<br>University of Puget Sound 238<br>University of Richmond (Westhampton College) 238<br>University of South Carolina 239<br>University of Tennessee 239<br>Ursinus College 239<br>Valdosta State University 240<br>Wartburg College 241<br>Wellesley College 241<br>Wells College 242<br>Westminster <br>College 243<br>Wilson College 244<br>Winthrop University 246<br><br>Chapter Notes 249<br>Selected Bibliography 261<br>Index 265

Über Autor(innen)

<strong>Allison Thompson</strong> is a writer, historian, and folk dance leader and musician. (She was the student dance leader for the Elizabethan May Day festival held at Earlham College in 1977.) She lives in Pittsburgh.