Happy May 1st everyone or as they say in France, Joyeaux 1er Mai! Since I have French relatives I thought I'd share a May 1st tradition with you. I find this tradition to be so sweet, not only in sentiment but also in fragrance!
On the 1st of May folks give muguet or lily-of-the-valley to those who hold a special place in their hearts with wishes of "bon heur" or "good luck" in the coming year.
Another related tradition was started back around 1900. If a man was not near his loved ones on May 1st he would send a lily-of-the-valley postcard instead of the actual sprig of flowers. How sweet is that?!
In France, there are vendors that set up little stands and sell sprigs of muguet all over the place on May 1st. It's the only day they can do so without a permit since it is also Labor Day. I can only imagine the perfume of muguet in the air today all over France! Ah...what a sweet smell.
Lily-of-the-valley are one of my very favorite flowers. I just love those dainty little bell shaped blossoms and their heavenly sweet scent! I've even been known to wear muguet perfume. A word of caution though to folks with pets and small children, these sweet plants are said to be poisonous if ingested so just smell them, okay?
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To keep this post stitch related, I went wandering around the internet and found a some lily-of-the-valley freebies for your stitching pleasure!
- Echevette offers us this petite freebie!
- AlarTTex offers her Fleurs de Mai Freebie 43. (Go to the middle of the page under the picture and click on the icon next to the word Grille. It will open a zip file you must download to get the chart.)
- Gazette94 still has her charts up on her blog and this one is one of my very favorites for May!
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I'll leave you today with a wish for happiness and good luck in the coming year! Thanks for visiting with me today.
Until next time,
The Inspired Stitcher
9 comments:
I love lily of the valley! Thanks for the links to the freebies.
What a wonderful tradition and can't believe that I had never heard of it until your post. That explains why there were so many Lily postcards in my granny's stuff. Thank you so much for enlightening us.
Donna
Very interesting Lisa. I wore Muguet for years and years.
When Rich and I were planning our wedding for May 1st the only flower I wanted was Lily of the Valley. Impossible, the florist told my mother.
Also, I finally finished a Lily of the Valley cross stitch piece last year but still haven't made it into a pillow. I must do that. Thanks for the cool post! I love lily of the valley!
Lily of the Valley are one of my favorites! And you are right, their scent is heavenly! :) I'm happy to have found your blog!
Lilies of the Vally are so lovely and delicate!! Thank you for sharing the links to those freebies. I really love the second one...I think it will look great as a biscornu!
What a fantastic tradition! We must do a 1st Mayb Lily of the Valley blog hop next year. Remind me nearer the time LOL.
Off to chase those links now.
http://www.broderie.net/1euro15.html
This one isn't free anymore but it's only Eur 1 for the pdf.
What a nice tradition, thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for the wonderful links and post. I never heard of this tradition, but will try to remember it next year. Lillies of the Valley are such a wonderful old fashioned flower. My mother had a large patch on the shady side of our house and they always remind me of her.
Wishing you a very belated Joyeaux 1er Mai!
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