MAY BASKETS

Brick Store Museum Collection, Gift of Mrs. G. Robert Butler, 1986, 86.I.60.

The origins of May Day date back thousands of years. The Druids of the British Isles celebrated May 1 as the festival of Beltane, representing the height of Spring and the flowering of new life. When the Romans occupied the British Isles, the celebration honoring Flora (the goddess of flowers) was brought to the British Isles as well. Many customs of May Day were derived from those combined celebrations, including Maypoles, electing a May Queen, and going “a-Maying” (gathering flowers).

Over time, May Day became a children’s celebration of the first day of spring. In addition to other traditions, children delivered May baskets. Children would gather flowers, place them in baskets, and secretly deliver them to family, friends and neighbors. If the recipient could catch the person who left the basket, a kiss was in order!

The baskets in this display were all made by Mrs. Sarah Owen, a Kennebunk resident who was well known as “The May Basket Lady”. She learned the tradition of May baskets as a child, delivering them with her father. When she moved to her home on Park Street in Kennebunk in 1942, Mrs. Owen helped to keep the May Day tradition alive by selling handmade May baskets to children for nickels and dimes. When she died in 1987, a beautiful Park Street tradition left with her.