Beginning in 1919, the current May Day celebration finds its origins in ‘June Day(s).’ Taking place during commencement week, June Day featured three maypoles (one for each of the classes; the seniors made up the queen and court) on the triangle of grass in front of what was then the gymnasium. 

The queen, chosen by Miss Kellas (headmistress at Emma Willard School 1911–1942) rather than elected by peers and faculty as we do today, was chosen for “her grace and charm of manner and speech, and whose influence in school affairs has always been for the best and highest” (Triangle, June 1921). The court was made up of that year’s E.W. Award recipients.

 

This celebration was, in comparison with our contemporary May Day festival, an enormous production with preparations involving the whole school for several weeks preceding the event. 

A 1947 edition of The Clock introduces campus student leaders and includes Campus Players as the group of students in charge of organizing the May Day performances, suggesting a plethora of theatrical events were present in the tradition during this time. There are many mentions throughout the 1940s of a dramatic presentation featuring characters from the Robin Hood legends along with performances and dances by chimney sweeps, milkmaids, ducks, a bear, morris dancers, a chamber orchestra on the steps of the chapel (formerly the gymnasium, now the Alice Dodge Wallace ’38 Center for the Performing Arts), and garlands of paper flowers. The roles for many of the dramatic interludes, similar to the veil of secrecy around Revels casting, were unknown to the majority of campus until their moment on the triangle. 

 

June Days also involved a ceremonial ivy planting (‘Ivy Day’ is an Emma tradition no longer in practice: the celebration included the president of the graduating class planting a young ivy plant at the base of Sage, to grow along the walls; in an effort to cause less damage to ye greys, we no longer grow ivy on the buildings!) and hoop-rolling. The hoops call to another campus tradition: hoop sisters, a senior and junior, as a precursor to the ring sibling tradition today.  

Under the headships of Miss Anne Wellington and Miss Clemewell Lay, this spring festival moved to the early days of May due largely to the feeling that June was a busy enough time of year, and June Days only added to the frenetic energy of those final weeks. The ceremony also moved from the triangle on inner campus to the lawns behind the Children’s School, now the Wellington-Lay building, and became a somewhat smaller event that doesn’t monopolize the entire school day. 

 

 

Though several changes occurred over the next several decades, for the most part, May Day underwent few shifts. The 1970s saw an addition of four junior dancers who performed a more stylized modern dance, although that choreography appears to have become more classical over the next several years. In 1982, May Day moved back to the senior triangle (an issue of The Clock credits a senior student leader with making that change happen), and the celebration closely resembles how we celebrate May Day today. For some time, the May Queen’s entrance was elaborate: sometimes on horseback, by carriage, helicopter, or limousine. 

 

 

Many articles in The Clock reference the origins of the holiday throughout history, especially Beltane (a Gaelic festival between the spring equinox and the summer solstice), although the Emma Willard School May Day tradition is closer to the English celebration: 

The plans for May Day are following old English traditions. As everyone knows, the May Day of England was an important holiday and all Englishmen participated from the youngest to the oldest. Games, dancing, singing, and various other amusements were in motion all day long. The women all carried nosegays of fresh and colorful flowers to lend gayety and brightness to the already gay and bright scene. Our May Day at Emma Willard can be just as exciting and wonderful as May Day was in Old England [...] First the coronation ceremony of the illustrious May Queen will take place, then everyone will join in the maypole dancing, and then—who knows? Better come and find out.

The Clock, “Who’s to be May Queen?” April 25, 1947

 

 

How does May Day fit into traditions at Emma Willard School? Though all enjoy the celebration as a moment to enjoy the warm weather and blooming campus, there are some mixed feelings about the tradition as well. An uncredited editorial from an April 1987 edition of The Clock tackles some these feelings: 

May Day reminds me that spring is truly here, even if the weather does not conform with the celebration. Yet, May Day is traditionally a celebration of beauty, along with the awakening of spring [...] The presence of May Day as an Emma Willard tradition and the focus on feminist issues which confront us as Betty Friedan challenged ‘I am a feminist and…’ presents a paradoxical situation [...] For me, the dichotomy is still a dilemma. I am a feminist BUT (Betty Friedan, forgive me!)... I adore May Day as I love all of the other traditions.”

Some of the more recent shifts in the tradition seek to alleviate some of the hierarchical pressure that might be found throughout its mechanisms. While the May Court is a focus of the event, there is somewhat less emphasis on the queen herself, and more on the unit of several classmates as representatives of their peers, without mention of a queen at all! Over the decades, photographs from May Day reflect the growing diversity of our campus population (in Wrought with Steadfast Will, Trudy J. Hanmer notes that the first Black May Queen was elected in 1968).

Though there isn’t always a secret theme to the day’s events as in previous years, the senior class now performs an extended dance for the community, and students have included employees into the day as well: we celebrate those who are leaving for new adventures, and those celebrating milestone years as a part of the Emma Willard School campus. 

 

For over 100 years, the campus has enjoyed the beginning of spring together by celebrating May Day: these cherished traditions bind generations of Emma students with shared memories that last a lifetime. 

See more photos from the 2025 May Day Celebrations on SmugMug.