April 26, 2006

MOORESTOWN FRIENDS TO CELEBRATE MAY DAY

 

MOORESTOWN, NJ -- May Day, Moorestown Friends School’s oldest tradition, will be celebrated on Fri., May 5, with the festive Maypole Dance and a variety of activities including performances, music, activities, crafts and roving costumed characters. The event is celebrated once every four years at Moorestown Friends School.

Students from three-year-olds through high school seniors will take part in the afternoon festivities, which begin with a parade of classes at 12:30 p.m. The Maypole Dance, to be performed by members of the Class of 2006, is scheduled for 2:40 p.m. In-between the opening and closing events, students will enjoy a variety of activities including a “Medieval Pilgrimage Around the World” and a Human Chess Game.

As is also tradition, students at 1:30 p.m. will present “Pyramus & Thisbe,” a scene from William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Records indicate that the play, a long-standing part of Elizabethan entertainment, was first performed at a Moorestown Friends School May Day in 1938.

Many MFS alumni are expected to return to campus for the event, which coincides with Alumni Weekend. Some are coming from as far away as California and the Far East.

The origins of May Day as a celebration are an ancient Roman festival that lasted from late April to early May, in which Romans offered flowers to Flora, their goddess of spring. The Romans brought that custom to all the European lands they conquered, making May Day a worldwide event.

By the Middle Ages, it became especially popular in England, where people rose early in the morning to “bring in the May.” They gathered flowers and tree branches to decorate their homes and later went to the town square where the Maypole –– often over 100 feet tall –– was raised. As a woman representing the May Queen presided over the ceremony, dancers held the streamers that fell from the top of the pole and circled around it, weaving the streamers into tight patterns. These pre-Christian agricultural festivals were intended to ensure fertility of the crops.

At Moorestown Friends School, May Day has been observed since 1912. Beginning in the 1950s, it changed from an annual event to a rotating celebration, sometimes once every two years, and more recently, every four years.  It has traditionally been modeled after a May Day of the Elizabethan Period in England.

 

Members of this year’s senior class will perform the Maypole Dance, accompanied the Upper School Wind Ensemble, directed by Instrumental Music Teacher George Stallé. Younger students will have an opportunity to learn the dance in anticipation of their performance in future years.

Seniors who are members of the court include May King Aaron Grossman of Voorhees and May Queen Caitlin Baiada of Moorestown. The Court ladies are Maura Burk of Audubon, Cory Colijn of Port Republic, Ani Klaus De Moraes of Moorestown, Nina Schuchman of Mt. Laurel and Chelsea Zlock of Medford. The Court gentlemen are Kevin Console of Moorestown, Ken Koszowski of Medford, Mario Ponticello of Medford, Josh Shagam of Medford and Jared Smith of Lumberton.

The King and Queen are randomly selected from those who express interest in the roles. The Queen and King will be crowned at 1:30 p.m. The ceremonial court presides over the May Day events. Preschoolers costumed as woodland fairies and elves will present flowers to the court, another longstanding tradition at MFS in which the school’s youngest students honor those who are graduating.

The Maypole Dancers are Tammy Allison of Mt. Laurel, Jen Barna of Hainesport, Kayla Borden of Medford, Grace Bundens of Woodbury, Danielle Chung of Moorestown, Simone Hall of Mt. Laurel, Emily Riggins of Moorestown, Jodi Schantz of Moorestown, David Fischer of Cherry Hill, Ryan Flynn of Mt. Laurel, John Gurrieri of Medford, Ted Kreider of Moorestown, Sean Mulligan of Marlton and Andrew Preston of Moorestown.  Their dance is choreographed by retired MFS Science Teacher and former School Committee Member Neil Hartman.

Among the activities during the afternoon (from 1:30 p.m. to 2:40 p.m.) are:

• Performances of a puppet show; “Robin Ddu,” a Welsh folk tale set in the medieval period and “Perseus and the Gorgons.”

• Musical entertainment by madrigals, a bell choir and a brass quintet.

• The opportunity to create crafts such as Medieval rubbings or enjoy hair braiding or Mayan face painting.

• A Medieval Pilgrimage that will include walking a Christian labyrinth; submitting prayers to the Western Wall in Jerusalem; creating Buddhist prayer flags; crafting Islamic tile designs; and learning “Yoga by the Ganges” with Hinduism.

• Demonstrations of mini-trebuchets (catapults), fencing and Human Chess. Each "piece" on the oversized chess game board will be a person who will be moved at the direction of the players.

• Roving characters that will include figures from Medieval History and models wearing Medieval hats made by students in an art elective.

It will be the second May Day as Head of School for Laurence R. Van Meter, who graduated from Moorestown Friends School in 1968, and served as a page to the court as a Lower Schooler.

“May Day is one of the oldest and most highly valued of traditions at Moorestown Friends,” Van Meter said. “It provides a splendid opportunity for the entire school community to come together to celebrate the arrival of spring.”

             

NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: There will be no public parking on campus on May Day in order to allow room for the celebrations. A shuttle bus will operate from First Presbyterian Church on Chester Avenue in Moorestown. With advance notice BY NOON THURSDAY, MAY 4, we can reserve a spot on campus for media representatives to allow them to meet deadlines, but it is essential that you contact Betsy Anderson, Public Relations Director, at (856)235-2900, ext. 234 or e-mail banderson@mfriends.org. Directions to the Moorestown Friends School campus can be found on the school’s web site: www.mfriends.org.