May Day Pageant. Sanctioned as an official college event with Mary Woolley’s inauguration in 1901, May Day was an annual Mount Holyoke tradition until the final pageant in 1949. The tradition has since undergone several transformations, and is now held in the fall as Family and Friends Weekend. Before the official sanction and beginning in 1896, May Day was known as May Fete, and held atop Prospect Hill.(19) May Day was held on a beautiful spring day, usually in late May, but occasionally in late April or early June. It was an all day affair, beginning with a large and intricate Pageant, which was written and directed by the drama club, and acted in by Mount Holyoke students. The highlight of the day was the crowning of the May Queen. Beginning in 1908, students had to fit into certain categories in order to be eligible to be crowned.

Annual May Queen. A letter from the Dean of Residents’ Office dated June 1947 explains that each Queen "must be a member of the senior class who is at least five feet five inches tall. Any student who meets these qualifications and has the backing of at least twenty-five other students is eligible to compete." (20). The Queen’s appearance would usually be worked into the main Pageant, with a very dramatic unveiling. She would appear with her “court”, or the six Queen runner-ups, usually dressed in an intricate costume in her class color. Keeping the Queen’s identity a secret until that moment was of the utmost importance. During the 1920s, it was not uncommon for May Queens to be lead by animals across the bridge. Students incorporated horses, cats, and even oxen into priductions (21). A 1933 written description of the tradition states that the highlight of the Pageant was “a democratically elected Queen who is crowned with due pomp on the auspicious day but whose identity is concealed with such secrecy that she cannot even say to her room-mate: ‘If you’re waking, call me early,’ adding by way of explanation of this unusual request, ‘For I am to be the queen of the May.’” (22)

Evolving Traditions. The last May Day Pageant was held in 1949, though spring queens were annually crowned until 1967. In the spring of 1951, the campus holiday was renamed “Parents Day”, encouraging students’ parents to take place in campus activities for the day. From 1958 until 1973, only students’ fathers were invited, but, mothers “reclaimed” the day in 1974. Five years later, the college shifted the date to the fall, in order to make it more convenient for parents and students to attend. In 1989, the holiday was renamed again, as “Family weekend”. Finally, in the early 1990s, the tradition was officially named “Family and Friends Weekend”, and activities were played for both Saturday as well as Sunday of the chosen weekend.(23)

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