maypoles

Found this information about maypoles in Encyclopedia Britannica online edition. Ceremonial folk dance performed around a tall pole garlanded with greenery or flowers and often hung with ribbons that are woven into complex patterns by the dancers. Such dances are survivals of ancient dances around a living tree as part of spring rites to ensure fertility. Typically performed on May Day (May 1), they also occur at midsummer in Scandinavia and at other festivals elsewhere. They are widely distributed through Europe—e.g., “Sellenger's Round” in England, the baile del cordón of Spain—and also are found in India. Similar ribbon dances were performed in pre-Columbian Latin America and were later integrated into ritual dances of Hispanic origin. Maypoles may also appear in other ritual dances, as in the Basque ezpata dantza, or sword dance. "Maypole dance." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Library Edition. Accessed 20 Mar. 2009

this is fabulous. my mother was 11 in 1934 and may well have been in this.

Renira1 That is a marvellous find for you. We don't have any information about who the chldren are. Many of our pictures from that time period only have limited information.

Thanks for adding this to the Dancing Outside group.

Paul Jackson Glad to know that you liked it :)

Miami University Libraries - Digital Collections a precious moment saved...

Lovely picture!

William Snyder, was the head keeper in the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan. He is mentioned in this article: William Snyder, head keeper in the Central Park Zoo, undertook yesterday morning to transfer eight big African pythons from a box to a small cage. Louis F. La Roche, a representative of Park Comsioner Stover, and Thomas Brady, a painter, helped him. The snakes had been put in the box while their old quarters were being done over, and they had not been fed as frequently as usual because of this change. Source: query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9906E3DB133BE633A... Stover must be the Parks Commissioner Charles B. Stover. He was thought to be dead in 1913 in Delaware when a body resembling him was found: Friends of Park Commissioner Charles B. Stover were much alarmed last night when dispatches from Wilmington, Del., said that in a body found in the Christiana River, near the shipyard of the American Car and Foundry Company there, Coroner John T. Spring of Wilmington reported that he recognized striking resemblance to Mr. Stover, whose whereabouts have not been known for some time. Source: query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F0DEED91E3BE633A... I created entries for both in Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bunstein_Stover en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Snyder_(animal_trainer)

See www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/3276254713/ for links to NYT articles about the annual festival of the Public Schools Athletic League.