May Day and ne Pelsbloom

(c) Kim Wheeler of crexmeadows.org

Ne Pelsbloom, de easchte Mei

    Many holidays just make more sense and are more fun for their context on the highly seasonal prairies of Agassiz and the Assiniboia.  One such holiday is May Day (de easchte Mei) – both highly controversial and widely, if quietly, celebrated by Prairie Mennonites across North America.

  More controversially known as International Workers’ Day, most of us grew up noting May Day as that day when the former Soviet Union paraded out the nuclear missiles and other military hardware designed to destroy God, Democracy, and the West.  As we grew more sophisticated, it was the day to determine who was in and who was out based on the line-up of Soviet dignitaries atop Lenin’s Tomb in Red Square.  Interestingly, according to Wikipedia, the Socialist (or Soviet) celebration of May Day was designed to commemorate the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago, 04 May 1886, and not some sort of pagan, atheist Soviet holiday. 

    More personal, and more memorable to me was that other aspect of May Day – the celebration that spring had come to the prairies – a time to gather the first wildflowers, normally ne pelsbloom (aka Pasqueflowers, wind flower, danesblood, Anemone patens or prairie crocuses) and try to surprise our mothers, grandmothers and schoolteachers by placing poesies of furry, delicate lavender blooms on their doorsteps, knocking or ringing the doorbell, and then hurrying around the house to get away before they could catch us and tickle us for playing tricks on them – a sort of reverse trick-or-treating where the children left the treat as part of the trick.

The Significance of Lilacs

    In researching the cultural mention and memory of lilacs amongst the Mennonites, I was not surprised to discover how deeply identified this stalwart travel companion and constant comfort to many a Mennonite farmwife has been identified with the journeys and experiences of the Mennonites, especially those of Russian and Ukrainian origin.

    In her blog posting, “Mennonite a People,” posted May 31, 2009, Linda May Shirley of Rosthern, Saskatchewan, indicates how deeply she identifies this symbol with the Russlander Mennonites, “Strange after all these years, and after all what the Mennonites have contributed to Canada that we are still not recognized [as a unique immigrant community].  Rosthern [Sask]  was/is a large community of Mennonites and in the early 1900’s was the largest exporters of flax.  We brought with us winter wheat, apple trees, lilacs, and many other things that many do not know about.  Back in Russia it was the Mennonites that first built a harvesting machine.  Still we are not known of our contributions rather many are ridiculed as a religion.”