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.