May

“Here we come gathering nuts in May, nuts in May, nuts in May,” goes the old childhood jingle, “Here we come gathering nuts in May, on a cold and frosty morning!” That’s what one of two teams of children facing each other and holding hands would sing out. Then the second team would reply, “Who will you have for nuts in May?” and so on, and the first team would pick one from the other side, singing, let’s say, “We’ll have Johnny for nuts in May,” and into the center Johnny would go, and the second team would sing out, “Who will you send to fetch him away?” Then the first team would reply, “We’ll send Sally to fetch him away,” choosing a girl from their own side. Then boy and girl would join hands and each one would try to pull the other to his or her own side. And so it would go on — a wonderful little game for getting boys and girls together for fun.

Now, you may well ask, “How can you gather nuts in May?” Maybe you can do that if you live in or near the tropics, or in Australia,…