June 18, 2020 (Thursday)
My blog for May 1 included a reference to two Maypole celebrations in my childhood. We did these song and dance routines as we moved around the maypole with crepe paper streamers, which ended up braided around the big pole. One year is was “Put Your Little Foot” and the other year featured “Sailing, Sailing.”
Just for fun, let’s take a look at those songs.
First, “Put Your Little Foot”
What we did was a little different, but you get the idea, I’m sure.
Second, “Sailing, Sailing” with the touch of Disney
Our maypole dances coupled a boy and a girl going around and around the maypole, wrapping it with colorful crepe paper as we went. The sailor boys put one hand over their waist and the other behind their back and skipped as they “danced.”
The routines were performed before the United States was swept into World War 2. I was in the 3rd and 4th grades when those celebrations took place. Our school had limited space and the big hallway became the lunch room each day. I recall one day, a speech by Adolph Hitler (in German) was broadcast over the sound system as we ate lunch. I recall hearing the sounds of the cheering crowds as the short wave broadcast made the cheering sound like stormy winds (waa waa waa). That must have been for the benefit of the older kids and teachers, because I don’t recall knowing what it was all about.
Shortly after the second maypole experience, the semester ended and so did the marriage of my mother and father. My sisters and I went to live with our mother’s parents for the next three years. That was the summer of 1941.
Maypole Partially Wrapped
