With fresh flowers wound into a wreath in her hair, Emily Remensperger stood in the sunshine Tuesday, May 10, celebrating the 25th annual May Fair at Housatonic Valley Waldorf School.

Originally scheduled for Friday, May 6, the fair that day had been rained out. Last week was the first time the outdoor celebration of spring had ever been delayed. "Mother Nature has been pretty good to us," said Ms Remensperger, a grade six teacher. The fair marks the arrival of spring, she said, and its roots reach back to pagan rituals. The fair is also about togetherness.

"Arts, dancing, they bring together all ages; it unites us and brings us joy," Ms Remensperger said.

Communications and Outreach Director Christina Dixcy took pictures and watched as her son Clement Tucker played with other children. The school's kindergarten through seventh grade students were all outdoors, singing, playing, and dancing around the Maypole. Grades three and eight, however, were both away on trips this year, she said.

Teaching traditional dance part-time, Patricia Campbell led students through dances around the Maypole while they wrapped ribbons around it in patterns. With ribbons all tethered to the top of the pole, students grabbed the ends near the ground and wove the long strands through one another during a spider web dance, and finally danced around one another so that their ribbons formed a braid on the pole.

Ms Campbell also joined students in a Morris and Sword Dance. As a group of students with wooden staffs representing swords rushed into the yard, Ms Campbell spoke of the dance's history, tracing it back to 1448. The dance has been documented in England, she said, but its origins are "lost in the mists of time."

Each spring the school welcomes parents and children for a day full of activities, dancing, singing, lunch, a bake sale, and a flower-filled celebration of the season.