All is revealed when you turn back to the door. A beguiling little basket is dangling, jam-packed with seasonal gladness. It isn’t grand or carefully designed. It doesn’t look like anyone’s version of florist’s perfection. Instead, it’s overflowing with a sunny homage to hope. Hastily tied to the knocker with ribbons—maybe slightly disheveled in the delivery process—your newfound basket of blossoms is the epitome of spring.
Although there is no official documentation of the origins of the May basket tradition, evidence of its beginnings can be seen throughout history. While people in other parts of the world were doing Maypole dances, Americans weren’t heavily involved in those rites of spring. Instead, they were busy plucking spring flowers and tucking them into anything that could be hung from a doorknob.
