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This issue of First Friday Genealogy with Sassy Jane features a new resource for collaborating with other genealogists around the world. Details on the new Virtual Genealogical Society are included below.

But first let's rejoice in May Day. May baskets were a big deal when I was growing up in the 1960s in a small town in the midwestern U.S. It seems like another time now, but it was a holiday everyone (well, at least schoolgirls and their mothers) looked forward to.

Construction paper folded and stapled (with bits of the maker's thumb and blood samples included at no charge), Dixie cups with pipe-cleaner handles, wallpaper samples twisted into cones, anything that could hold May offerings was fair game to make on the evening of April 30th.

And on May Day itself, those baskets were filled with popcorn, candies, and spring flowers, like the wild violets we'd pick ourselves in vacant lots.

After school, mothers would ferry their children (mostly daughters) around town to leave these offerings on the doorknobs of favored recipients. Timing was everything, for if a boy recipient could be seen, he was fair game to chase and capture for a kiss. (Mothers enthusiastic; daughters reluctant; boys petrified.)

Then it was time to go home and find the riches in the May baskets heaped by the front door of your own childhood home.

NPR recently did a piece called A Forgotten Tradition: May Basket Day: "Perhaps considered quaint now, in decades past May Basket Day — like the ancient act of dancing around the maypole — was a widespread rite of spring in the United States."

Marci Matson, director of the historical society in Edina, Minn., writes: "The practice has a long history, stemming from the European pagan festival of spring, Beltane. The more raucous elements were toned down after the continent became Christianized, but the May pole dance and May baskets survived in a more G-rated form."

I'd like to think this still is practiced, but I doubt it. Do you remember May Day celebrations like this? Have you asked your relatives for their memories of May Day? Let me know here.

Sassy Jane Blog Posts on U.S. and Midwestern Research

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Join the Virtual Genealogical Society – It’s New!

Would you like to attend national and international conferences, but traveling is just impossible?
Do you prefer to attend webinars and other events online to learn and socialize with genealogists?
Would you like to meet international genealogists, especially ones working in other countries where you research?

Consider joining the new Virtual Genealogical Society. The brainchild of Katherine R. Willson (of Genealogy on Facebook fame) and other leading genealogists, the Virtual Genealogical Society "provides a forum for genealogists to connect, network, and mentor with genealogists around the world through monthly meetings online, webinars, social networking, annual conferences, and in-person meet-ups at conferences, institutes and events around the world."

With your $20 annual membership,* you receive:

Recorded monthly webinars by nationally-known speakers
Webinar handouts
Live chat with featured speakers in members-only Facebook group
Discounts on genealogy software, databases, publications and products
Annual virtual conference member discount
Monthly newsletter emailed to you
Members-only Facebook group for networking, mentoring, and socializing
Access to Special Interest Group (SIG) discussions and handouts
Fillable PDF forms for family history research

*$10 introductory pricing now through May 5.

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See You in June

You know you should write down those sources, but family tree software makes it so confusing. Try Simplifying Genealogy Sources & Citations. Use the coupon code maybasket for 15% off only for newsletter subscribers.

Like this issue? Share it with your friends using the social media and mail links above. See you June 1st.

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Expiration date: May 31, 2018

Simplify My Genealogy Sources

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Nancy Loe · 1 Grand Avenue · San Luis Obispo, California 93405 · USA