May Day Oddities in the Victorian United States ~ by Kristin Holt

by Kristin Holt

USA Today Bestselling Author

May Day falls on the first of May, and has been an occasion for celebration on various continents since at least the 13th century. Today’s world has long-forgotten most of the lore surrounding May Poles and Beltane (pre-Christian holiday of rebirth and fertility).

 

 

MAY DAY IS UNIQUELY AMERICAN

Have you read Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle? Or Jack London’s The Iron Heel? I read The Jungle in high school—and some of those dastardly images are still engraved on my brain. What was Sinclair trying to do? Effect reform in the workplace. The late nineteenth century was fraught with workers’ battling their powerful (and moneyed) employers for shortened work hours, shorter work weeks (who wants to work 14 hours a day, 6 days a week?). Finally, in the late 1880s, organized labor unions triumphed! An 8-hour work day was here to stay! (For much more, see Eric Chase’s The Brief Origins of May Day).

None of this is odd. In fact, most of us are glad our late nineteenth century ancestors worked out the long work days, employment of children in factories, and many other less-than-appealing truths in American history.

 

MAY DAY—PARTIES, DANCES, HOT AIR BALLOONS

May Day Festivals were as good an excuse as any to gather together for one of the first warm-weather social gatherings of the season (at least in much of the United States). Young women were crowned the May Day queen, theater productions (live actors) opened on May Day (intentionally), children danced around the May pole, and people gathered to hear music performed. (Can you imagine living in an era when “live music” was the one and only option?)

 

 

NOW, THE ODD STUFF

Americans loved “May” so much, they named their daughters “May”. Okay. Not all that bizarre. Until you consider those whose surnames were Day.

If your parents, Mr. and Mrs. Day gave birth to you, a daughter, would you—seriously—want to be named May Day? (Keep in mind that the “help! help!” call: Mayday didn’t show up until 1923, and then, the SOS signal had nothing to do with “May Day”... it simply sounds like the French “Help Me”: venez m'aider. So little girls running around the neighborhood, sought by their parents with a “May Day!... wouldn’t necessarily raise a panic.

 

Is it odd to name a child “May Day”? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Please scroll down and comment.

VICTORIAN AMERICANS CELEBRATE HOLIDAYS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

Curious about how our Victorian-American ancestors celebrated everything from New Year’s Day, to Independence Day, to New Year’s Eve? Come see! I’ve gathered useful information from credible sources:

A Victorian Menu for New Year’s Day, 1892

Victorian New Year Celebrations

Victorian Americans Observed Groundhog Day?

Victorian Era Valentine’s Day

Victorian America & April Fool’s Day

Victorian America Celebrates Easter

Victorian America and Easter Eggs

Victorian Americans and Mardi Gras

Victorian America Celebrates Arbor Day

Victorian Leap Year Traditions, Part 1

Victorian Leap Year Traditions, Part 2

Leap Into Love—the Victorian Way

Victorian America Celebrates St. Patrick’s Day

Victorian America Observes Memorial Day

Victorian America Observes Mother’s Day

Victorian America Observes Flag Day

Happy Birthday, United States!

Victorian America Celebrates Independence Day

Pioneer Day: Utah’s Victorian History

Victorian Americans Celebrate Labor Day

Victorian America’s Harvest Celebrations

Victorian Americans Celebrate Oktoberfest

Victorian America Celebrates Halloween

Victorian Era Thanksgiving Celebrations

Victorian Letters to Santa

A Child's Benevolent Wish, Christmas 1883

American Victorian Era Christmas Celebrations

Thanks for reading! Please scroll down and comment. Your thoughts are valuable!

Kristin Holt, USA Today Bestselling Author, writes Sweet Victorian Romance set in the American West. She writes frequently about Old West history and contributes monthly to Sweet Americana Sweethearts.

Sweet Romance Appropriate for All Audiences

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 Copyright © 2018 Kristin Holt LC

A Little About Salt ...

Hi there, Kit Morgan here and today I want to talk a little about salt.

Did you know that the bacteria that causes meat to spoil can't live in brine?  In the days before refrigeration, salt was one of the only safe ways to preserve meat. It was also used for other things. For example, eggs buried in salt would stay fresh and could be used for baking, although not for boiling or frying. Salt is also a good cleanser. Pioneer women often used it to scour wooden floors and tabletops. When teeth needed brushing, one could fray the end of a small twig, dip it in some salt, and scrub their teeth with it. Golly gee, as often as once a week! Pioneers also used salt to clean animal hides being tanned to make leather.

 But where did Pioneer families and frontiersmen get their salt? 
Most folks bought barrels of it from a

general store. These barrels were sent by canal and wagon from saltworks ( factories built next to salt springs)  where the brine was boiled until the water evaporated, leaving behind salt crystals. 

People that lived near the ocean made salt by evaporating seawater in large, flat pans. It took 300 gallons of seawater to make 70 pounds of "solar salt", as it's called. In other places, deposits of rock salt were mined from the earth. Every community, large or small, needed tons of salt each year. Lack of salt often slowed down the settlement of an area. People were less inclined to buy land unless there was a general store fairly close by to supply them with salt.

Back in the pioneer days, the salt bought by the barrel at the general store was damp and lumpy. Once the salt was brought home, a bowlful of salt chunks was placed near the fire to dry out. One of the children in the family was often tasked with crushing the dried chunks with a rolling pin. This fine salt was then stored in a small, soft box on the mantelpiece for everyday use.

So the next time you use salt on your food or in a recipe, imagine yourself having to crush it with a rolling pin first or have one of your children do it for you. I'd be worried what else would wind up in my salt if I saddled one of my kids with the chore.  A Lego perhaps? A marble? Who knows? Just be glad that today we can go to the grocery store, buy a container of salt, take it home and stick it in our cupboard!
If you'd like to check out my books, you can find them on my website at http://www.authorkitmorgan.com Until next time, enjoy your work-free salt!

Privies and Plumbing

Even before Christ, Romans enjoyed hot and cold running water in their homes and indoor toilets that carried wastes to the Tiber River where it flowed on out to the Mediterranian Sea. The desire for cleanliness and other niceties of civilization were lost when the barbarian hordes overran Rome.

By the middle ages, sanitation in the cities still proved abysmal by today's standards. When the bubonic plague rolled around in the mid-1300s and over half of Europe's population expired, the Jews were blamed when it was in actuality their simple practice of washing their hands before meals kept them safe to a noticeable degree.

I love it that Queen Victoria is recorded as saying she took a bath once a month whether she needed it or not. I suppose cleanliness does have its different perspectives!

In the 1800s, while the east coast of the United States enjoyed indoor plumbing, those brave, adventurous pioneers who traveled west to settle the new lands dug privies, and those 'outhouses' chugged along in the rural communities all the way past the turn of the last century.

Fast forward to the twentieth century. A big advantage of city living in the 1920s to the 50s besides electricity was indoor plumbing, running hot and cold water and flushing potties with highly maintained sewer systems. Rural areas were slow to achieve the modern conveniences. Both my husband's and my grandparents still used operating outhouses in the 1950s. They considered indoor potties a luxury. We remember sprinkling the lime to keep the stench down!

Ron, my husband of FIFTY YEARS this June 22--Laaaaa! Golden Anniversary time! Anyway, he reported that as a teen, he and his brother dug a new septic tank for their grandfather . . . well, there actually wasn't a tank back then, just a hole in the ground. Nowadays, while rural living still has no sewer system, the science of septic tanks--large concrete or plastic receptacles buried in the ground has evolved to the point where at least we are no longer polluting the earth.

Running hot and cold water indoors for drinking and bathing is a wonderful thing in our lives taken totally for granted. While the most necessary product of plumbing is safe drinking water--acquired from wells using buckets, windmills, or hand pumps to bring the water up, the most luxuriest is without a doubt, indoor potties!

John David Nightingale, my hero in JOHN DAVID’S CALLING, that launches in FOUR days, grew up with his MawMaw and PawPaw Harris in a little rural community in the Texas Hill country during this time! For a present one year, his parents hired a plumber to install an indoor toilet, sink, and bathtub for them. Boy did they think they were living in high cotton then!

This story is book one of The Revivalist Trilogy which are companion books to the highly acclaimed Texas Romance Family Saga. David, its hero, is the son of Buddy Nightingale and Sandra Louise Harris. He is the baby on Sandy's hip at the end of CHIEF OF SINNERS, but now he's all grown up.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Born in sin, but redeemed by the blood, John David Nightingale rejects his mother’s heritage and embraces his paternal grandfather’s faith. What price will he have to pay? Vietnam looms and his love, Hannah Rose, beckons, but the call of the Lord is so strong, David must answer.

Pre-order today! JOHN DAVID'S CALLING

Don't you agree we are so blessed to live in these days of bathrooms (several in our houses) and plumbing in general? Are you old enough to remember outhouses? :) 

BIO: Caryl McAdoo prays her story brings God glory, and a quick scroll through her novels’ rankings by Christian readers attests to the Father’s faithfulness. She loves writing almost as much as singing the new songs He gives her—look her up on YouTube to hear a few. Her high school sweetheart husband won her heart fifty-one years ago, and now they share four children and seventeen grandsugars. Ron and Caryl live in the woods south of Clarksville, seat of Red River County in far Northeast Texas, waiting expectantly for God to open the next door.

Take Time to Smell the Roses

Roses have added beauty to our lives since, well, creation.

If the vibrant beauty of a blood red rose doesn't stop a person, it's fragrance of delight will at least cause most to slow down. 

In this day of commercialism, we can buy roses almost anywhere and of many colors and characteristics. From big beauties to miniature roses. A few years ago, Japan even came up with a genetically altered blue rose. Seems roses lack the gene to make blue. 

So, what kind of roses did they have to choose from in the 1860s?  There were not nearly the types to choose from as we have today. Most roses are found naturally in the Northern Hemisphere. 

The Heirloom roses were available to those in 1860 and early America. Roses such as Damask, Albas, Gallica, and Centifolia. You can still find these roses today.

Roses were first cultivated in China 5000 years ago, and most of the modern day roses are built on these.

Tea Roses got there name because their blooms smelled like fresh tea. 

Gardening and cultivation of new roses became a hobby for many resulting in a variety of roses.


In my new series, Bounty Hunter Matchmaker, Rand Ketcham is a retired bounty hunter who has taken up rose gardening. His wife, who tragically died two years before, had brought two bushes from her wealthy home in Nacogdoches, TX.  Rand takes solace in the roses and along with his roses, he becomes something of a matchmaker. Maybe someday, he'll even find a new love of his own.   
Watch for Book 1 Lawfully Saved out May 22nd.

Remember, take time to smell the roses and better yet, pick one and give it to someone you love.
Have a blessed day.
Patricia PacJac Carroll

For more information, please contact

email                   patricia@pacjaccarroll.com

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Sign up for PacJac News and receive notice of my new books or sales.

American Frontier Physicians, Doctors in the Wild West and Hero Hearts

What do Frontier Physicians, Doctors in the Wild West and Hero Hearts have in common?

I love history, researching history, and embellishing upon history in the historical romance books I write (they are fiction, after all). I also love heroes—strong, loyal, good men, and strong, kind, intelligent women.

Some of you know that I co-write a series with two additional authors, and the series (Hero Hearts) focuses on heroes in the past and present.

My latest historical, Lawfully Charmed, is a story created in the fictional town of Bareglen Creek, Texas and features a sheriff, a socialite, a Texas Ranger, a Native American, multiple deputies, and two physicians. There's lots of action, danger, and chemistry, and the book (although standalone and sweet) sets up a series of books for Bareglen Creek.

Both physicians will have their own books releasing in the near future, and Doc Holloway's will be next, scheduled to release within three weeks. His book is titled "Reluctantly Charmed".

Claire, the heroine from Lawfully Charmed is a natural-born matchmaker, and she's at it again. She thinks her best friend Magdalena is the perfect match for Doc Holloway. Doc ends up thinking so, too, but Magdalena... not so much.

She's been wounded in the past, is a suffragette, and has no intention of giving up her independence, or getting married. Not now. Not ever! Thus the title Reluctantly Charmed! : )

While researching these books, I found it fascinating that doctors in the wild west (the mid to late 1800's) often wore many hats, and in some cases were asked to act as the sheriff for their town if the town was small!

As an educated member of smaller towns, doctors were often asked to head the schools, act as the justice of the peace, the local druggist, and more.

Frontier doctors often carried a bag with them that contained medicines, botanicals, and instruments used for diagnosis and treatment.

There were many challenges and dangers that went along with the position of being a physician in the wild west, and often doctors had to make due with local remedies while they waited for supplies to arrive by wagon train or locomotive. Traveling to the sick and wounded included its own set of danger, and frontier doctors were long on endurance and courage—but often short on everything else.

Although some doctors chose to carry a firearm, many did not, and in fact, Dr. Charles Buck, who traveled through the Rio Grande Valley of Texas refused armed escort from the Texas Rangers. He told them that they had many enemies, but he did not, and therefore felt safer without them!

Doctors were (and are) true heroes. In Pioneer days, they often sacrificed their lives to attend patients who were ill from epidemics or injured due to large-scale mining accidents, or robberies.

In the early to mid-1800's, many doctors did not have a medical degree but rather were self-proclaimed. Those were dangerous days, even when the 'doctor' had the best of intentions.

Texas was the first state to establish a licensing board for physicians, and by 1895, most states had followed suit.

The twentieth century made the practice of medicine far more sophisticated and advanced, for the benefit of all.

The doctors in this Hero Hearts/Bareglen Creek series are both educated, serious about their profession, more than a bit intense, and one could even say, opinionated. With that said, they both have hearts of gold, hero hearts, if you will.

If you would like to know when Doc Holloway's story, Reluctantly Charmed, releases, you can do so here:  KateCambridge.com/reluctantly

If you would like the chance to win a copy of Reluctantly Charmed, please join the Hero Hearts Reader Group on Facebook where frequent contests and giveaways occur almost weekly!

Thank you for joining me today! I would love to connect with you on Facebook, so please join the reader group, and join in with the other amazing women there.

Kate Cambridge

KateCambridge.com
Choice Reader's List: KateCambridge.com/choice

Wanted: Shopkeeper

By Sophie Dawson

Millie Messer has four young children and the mercantile to run. She posts an advertisement wanting a shopkeeper to marry. Clay Cutler is her choice. The trouble is he has two secrets. One is revealed when he steps off the train with his 5 children. Now she has 9.

That’s what happens to Millie in the fourth book of the Multi-Author Silverpines Series newly released on Amazon. This series is a twist on the Mail Order Bride concept.

Wanted: Shopkeeper

 

Silverpines has had twin disasters happen which leads to most of the fathers, young husbands and eligible bachelors dying.  The women are left with businesses to run and though strong women, they aren’t equipped for the task. Then there’s the BAD GUYS who come to town.

What would you do? Here's how Millie reacted.

The noise of the train slowing to a stop drowned out all thought. Abe covered his ears and frowned at her. He didn’t like loud noises. Millie bounced him slightly watching the conductor place the step on the platform. She held her breath as the man from the newspaper clipping stepped from the train.

Clay Cutler glanced at her then turned back. He helped a cute little girl off. She had strawberry blonde hair tumbling in messy waves and a broad smile. She looked around with wide curious eyes that took in everything around her. She focused on Millie and her children and the smile widened.
Two boys jumped down and pushed at each other before Mr. Cutler said a sharp word to them. One looked to be about Reuben’s age, the other slightly older. They each carried satchels.

Reaching up, the man took a small girl from the arms of a young teenage boy and turned from the train. He looked at Millie and began to slowly cross the platform holding the toddler followed by the other four children.

Millie gritted her teeth trying to keep the neutral expression on her face. He hadn’t said anything about about having children. And there were five. She nearly collapsed as the weight of the added members to her family crashed onto her shoulders. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BWZ4ZF3.  Available on Kindle, KU, and print.

Grab your copy today and see if the children can bring the family together or tear the new couple apart. Will evil intentions bring danger to any one in the family.

The previously published books are all great reads. Be sure to get those too and find out how the disaster occurs. Silverpines Series.

Mail Order Marshall - George McVey

Wanted: Horse Breeder - Barb Goss

Wanted: Gunsmith - Lynn Donovan
 

From Southern Belle to Cattle Queen and Then Some...

More than a decade ago, I read A Bride Goes West, the memoirs of Wyoming wife and rancher Nannie Alderson. The book haunts me to this day. You’d have to read it to understand, but Nannie was a fire-cracker with a rebel’s heart! Nothing ever kept her down; she accepted life with grace and grit and lived a grand adventure when the west was still wild and wooly.

 Born to an affluent southern family, Nannie grew up in post-Civil War Virginia. Her home and community were spared much of the desolation of war, leaving her to blossom in a world that clung to the most genteel Southern graces. Her petticoats were ironed daily, she never cooked a meal or did her own laundry, but she did learn the most useless graces of high society. Her mother was a vain woman who enjoyed being the belle of the ball and was pleased to groom her daughter for the same fate.

Nannie only felt strangled by the shallow, societal confinements.

In 1880, she had the opportunity to visit a cousin in wild-and-wooly Kansas. Nannie jumped at it. Right from the start, she fell in love with the freedom of the West. No one judged her there; no one treated her like a hot-house flower. What you wore or who you ate dinner with didn’t impress anyone. Folks were measured by their grit, not their silk breeches. Hard work and honest words were all that mattered.

While there, she met the man who epitomized these traits. Walt Alderson had left home at the age of 12 to make his way as a cowboy. He spent years learning to be the best cowboy he could be with the ultimate goal of running his own spread. In all that time, he never made one visit home.

He and his business partner had purchased some land in Montana and started the work of building a ranch. For whatever reason, Walt decided in the midst of all this to check in on his family. The night he came home, Nannie was sitting on his living room settee.

Nannie’s recollections of building a ranch in the wilds of Montana with Walt are fascinating, detailed, peppered with humor, and always honest. She went from gliding across hardwood floors to sweeping dirt floors covered with canvas. She went from living in an antebellum mansion to a drafty, two-room cabin. She went from swirling about at parties with young men in perfectly tailored suits to dancing with dusty cowboys in patched up dungarees.

She had to learn to cook and her tutors were those trail-hardened ranch hands who treated her like a princess and readily forgave her for the rocks she called biscuits. She survived bed bugs and blizzards; delivered children with no midwife and stared down Indians. Nannie even shot a rattlesnake who attempted to take up residence in her kitchen. She readily admits she had moments when she felt sorry for herself, but, mostly, Nannie counted her blessings. She loved her life. She loved the way of life out West.

Like Walt, quitting was never part of the plan, even when the stock market crashed and Indians burned their house. For ten years they worked and slaved to forge a home from the beautiful, desolate, wide-open country in Montana.  Even when Walt died, leaving her a widow with two young children, Nannie cowboyed up. She made ends meet; she raised good kids.

The next time your microwave goes on the fritz or you forget to pick up milk at the store, pick up a copy of A Bride Goes West. I guarantee this gritty pioneer gal will put things in perspective for you. If you enjoyed this post, I hope you'll consider signing up for my newsletter. In return, you'll get a free copy of my "sampler"--the openings to several of my books. 

So, what do you think? Have we gone soft? Do Americans face up to things the way our ancestors did?