May Day is one of Bryn Mawr College’s most beloved traditions. It basically just consists of white dresses, flower crowns, music, and lots and lots of photos. As a frosh in 2015, I was wide-eyed and swept up in all the festivities. It rained the following year, so I slept through the whole thing. As a junior in 2017, I missed most of the morning activities because it was my first year living off campus and I had taken too long walking over to campus. At the end of May Day 2017, I decided that for May Day 2018, I would go to all the activities and put together my most thorough May Day vlog yet (I’ve vlogged every May Day, except for 2016, which I didn’t go to, and my May Day 2015 vlog is the most popular video on my Youtube channel!).
Give the video a like on Youtube if you enjoyed it, and subscribe to keep up with new videos! To see vlogs from past years, check out May Day 2015 (my most popular video yet!) and May Day 2017.
5:45 // Sophomores prepare May Day Baskets and wake the Seniors with “The Hunt is Up” written by King Henry VIII.
7:00 // Seniors gather at ye Rockefeller Arch and proceed to Pen-y-Groes to wake President Cassidy. Ye Taylor Bell rings until 7:05 to welcome in the May.
7:15 // Seniors sing ye Magdalen Hymn to the Sun from Rockefeller Tower.
7:30-8:45 // The classes breakfast together on Strawberries and Cream: Seniors in Wyndham, Juniors, Sophomores, and First-years in ye Erdman Dining Hall.
I didn’t want to make the same mistake as last year (taking too long to walk to campus from my off-campus apartment and missing all the morning traditions), so I slept over in Georgina’s room the night before (she lives in a dorm on campus). We slept in instead of partaking in waking up the President at her house and ringing Taylor Bell to welcome in May, but we were sure to wake up for the strawberries and cream breakfast. Whilst the underclassmen scrambled for breakfast at the dining halls, we seniors took our leisurely time with breakfast at the alumni house, complete with bottomless mimosas!
9:00 // Ye Morris dancers perform in front of ye Pembroke Arch.
9:15 // Seniors march to ye Senior Steps to watch the Parade.
9:30 // Ye Grande Processional with the President of the College, the May Queens, Traditions Mistresses, Songs Mistresses, Worthies, and May Pole Dancers.
9:45 // May Pole Dancing on ye Merion Greene by the four classes and McBride Schollers. Ye President and ye May Queens deliver humorous speeches.
10:00 // Senior May Roll Hoop Race down ye Senior Row.
The Senior May Roll Hoop Race is a special tradition for seniors. May Hoops (see first, second, and second-to-last photos) are passed down from seniors to underclassmen, and not everyone has one, so to have one passed down to you is really, really special. My May Hoop was passed to me when I was a frosh in a cappella; my a cappella group, Chaverim, has a tradition in which the senior passes the May Hoop down to the frosh, and our Hoop has been around since ’88! The style of our hoop is very distinctive from the newer hoops, not just in decoration, but also in the actual shape of the hoop; the newer hoops look more like larger versions of bamboo embroidery hoops, unlike the older hoop pictured in this post.
Whilst it’s traditional to race down Senior Row with the Hoops by rolling them, now people just hold the Hoop around them (like a hula hoop) and run or, more commonly, walk. Once we get down to Senior Row, everyone likes to take photos, and in the midst of all that, a woman tapped my back and asked who our Hoop belonged to (I was taking photos with the Hoop with a bunch of friends). I told her that it was mine, and that it had been passed down to me through my a cappella group. Then she told me that she was a Chaver alum and was so happy to see that the tradition had been kept since she graduated in ’11.
11:00 // May Hole Dancing on ye Denbigh Greene.
This was the first year that I had seen the May Hole Dancing in its entirety; my first two years, I had missed it because I was warming up with my a cappella group for the traditional May Day a cappella concert at noon, and the third year I had missed it because I took too long walking to campus from my off-campus apartment.
The Dance starts with everyone linking hands and encircling the Greene, chanting “hey hey, ho ho, the patriarchy has got to go!” and then rushing to the center to throw flower petals in the air by flapping the parachute under them (like those rainbow gym parachutes). Afterwards, people like to gather the fallen petals and shoot cute photos.
11-1:30 // A picnic lunch is served on ye Erdman Greene.
11:30 // Bi-Co Flute Choir on ye Pem East Greene.
11:30 // Rince na Mawr and Scottish Country Dancing on ye Merion Greene.
12:00 // King Arthur play in ye Taft Garden.
12:00 // A Cappella Concert on ye Carpenter Beach.
I quit a cappella after the fall semester of junior year, but even though I wasn’t in a cappella anymore, I was adamant about continuing our tradition of passing down the May Hoop and keeping the Hoop within our family. My friends and I grabbed lunch and then picnicked on Carpenter Beach until the A Cappella Concert started, and I prepared to pass off the Hoop after they performed and explain the tradition to the Chaver baby. Before they performed, they spotted me and Georgina (who also quit with me after the fall semester of junior year (it was a rough academic semester okay??)) and asked us if we’d like to perform one song with them for old times’ sake. After running the song once to see whether we remembered it, we were ready to go.
12-1:00 // Chocolate River served on ye Carpenter Beach.
12-1:00 // Gingerbread Decorating on ye College Hall Greene.
12-2:00 // DJ performs on ye Merion Greene.
Once the A Cappella Concert was over, my friends and I headed to Merion Greene to spend the rest of May Day. As you can see from the schedule, most of the May Day traditions occur in the morning and the other activities occur in the afternoon. I always forget that there are so many activities going on because I usually just spend my May Day afternoons between the A Cappella Concert and Merion Greene. On the Greene, we chill out as the DJ performs, followed by college bands and a guest performer, and we take tons and tons of photos, of course.
12-4:00 // Candy Wall on ye Taylor Drive.
12-4:00 // Carnival Treat Shop featuring popcorn, cotton candy, soft pretzels, donuts on ye Taylor Drive.
12-4:00 // Balloon Art and Airbrush Tattoos on ye Canaday Plaza.
12-4:00 // Ice Cream Truck in front of ye Canaday.
12-4:00 // Madewell Tabling on ye Taylor Drive.
1:00 // Greek Play in ye Sunken Garden.
1-5:00 // Traditions Sales on ye Taylor Drive.
1-5:00 // Candy Playland Bounce and Inflatable Twister on ye Denbigh Greene.
1:30 // Jazz Band in ye Goodhart Music Room.
2-5:00 // May Day Concert featuring OT Genasis, Taylor Bennett, and Battle of the Bands Winners on ye Merion Greene.
Although it didn’t rain this May Day, it was forecasted to, and admittedly, the sky was looking a little cloudy and stormy. Because of this, the May Day concert was moved to McPherson Auditorium, the appointed rain site. In my opinion, the auditorium is a terrible place for a concert (all the theatre seats in the way!), so I decided to skip the concert as I wasn’t all that hype about the guest performer either. Instead, my friends and I continued to chill on the Greene.
Although I view the May Day Concert as the main event of May Day (we got Khalid last year!!) and was bummed about this year’s–by both the venue and the performer–I think what really makes or breaks May Day is the weather, so I’m thankful for the great weather we got, despite the forecast. I had to wear a denim jacket all day, but it wasn’t super cold, and more importantly, it wasn’t wet, and it wasn’t anywhere near hot and I didn’t get sunburned. That’s a win!
2:00 // Shakespeare Performance Troupe’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in ye Taft Garden.
2:00 // Archeology Fashion Show on ye Pem East Greene.
2:30 // Fencing Team presents St. George and the Dragon Play in ye Sunken Garden.
3:00 // Shakespeare Performance Troupe Revival Play in ye Taft Garden.
4:30-7:00 // May Day dinner on ye Erdman Greene.
By the time dinner rolled around, we were all so tired. Rather than have May Day dinner on Erdman Greene, Kat, Claire, and I decided to order Domino’s. It was a great decision. After munching on slices of Pacific Veggie pizza and cheesy bread, I took a long nap and waited for the last event of the evening.
5:00 // A Flight to Higher Ground — Sarah Moser & Terrence Foster on ye Erdman Greene.
5-6:00 // Lemon Sticks on ye Pem East Greene.
7:00 // Bryn Mawr Renaissance Choir in ye Great Hall.
8:00 // The last Step Sing of the year on ye Senior Steps.
10:45 // Traditional Showing of “The Philadelphia Story” starring Katharine Hepburn ’28 in ye College Hall 110.
Technically, “The Philadelphia Story” is that last event of May Day, but Step Sing is what really closes it for me. I’m not gonna lie, I’m not a huge fan of Step Sing, but it’s a beloved tradition by many Mawrters. There’s usually a Step Sing after every major tradition at Bryn Mawr, but before May Day 2018, I had only gone to one Step Sing, which was the first Step Sing of my freshman year. I had no intention of going to this last Step Sing, but then I had a vision for my vlog, in which it would end by fading to black, then fade in an obscure clip from Step Sing (since we’re not really allowed to film it whoops), and then fade out. So I stayed for the vlog. Hey, I got the clip I wanted!
I think I’ll miss this crazy cult more than I know, and I won’t forget our traditions anytime soon! It was nice to set everything aside for a day, get sun and fresh air, and delight in flowers, music, and beauty. It was the perfect opportunity to get photos with friends so familiar that we never think of getting photos together. Now that we’re all freshly graduated, who knows when we’ll get to do this next?
Hope everyone’s May is going well so far! What have you been up to?
PS: may day 2017, may day 2015