According to folklore I found in Frank C. Brown’s Collection, if you wash your face in the dew on May 1st you will be pretty. Or if you let your head get wet in the first rain of May you will not have a headache all year long.
Well I’ve missed out on the dew part, but I’m sure I’ll be standing outside when the first rain drops arrive around my place this May. Trying for a whole year without a headache is worth getting a little wet or a whole lot wet if it really worked.
Tipper
Appalachia Through My Eyes – A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.
I agree about the headache thing. Migraines run in our family. Thank God, since I retired, I don’t have them as often as I did when I worked in offices, which was nearly every night. Makes me wonder if there isn’t something to the medical study that says most office lighting makes people sick.
We have rain headed our way right now, the first rain of May, so I may run out and catch a bit of it on my head myself to test this.
God bless.
RB
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Mother always said “May rain won’t hurt you”, so we were allowed to go out in it- even play, if we wanted to. Any month before that, we would die of pneumonia, of course.May 1st was also the the first day we could go barefoot. This all changed when we moved to Florida.
I know a woman who collects dew on the full moon to put on her face. While she is quite a bit older than me she sure looks a lot younger. Perhaps?
My granny said that if you got wet during the first rain in May you would have good health the rest of the year.
Tipper,
You and the girls must have taken
a whole bath in the morning dew!
I was listening to our local radio
this morning and thought I heard
that the Jerry (Pap) Wilson family
will be singing at Brasstown on
Sunday evening. It’s not surprising
cause The Blind Pig Gang is always
somewhere doing the Lord’s work.
…Ken
Well, I guess I’ll have an opportunity this weekend to get plenty wet, parts of North Alabama is under a flash flood watch for this weekend.. the headache thing may be worth trying..
A few days ago I walked into this store and up to the checkout counter. As usual that early in the morning I wasn’t very perceptive. Didn’t notice this little girl standing to the side until this policeman said, “She looks just like her Momma don’t she?’ It sort of woke me up. I looked at her and said she sure does. She was rather little couldn’t have been more than seven or eight. I then noticed her freckles and told her that I thought her freckles were beautiful. She immediately covered her little eyes as though she was embarrassed. Her Momma laughed and said, “She hates her freckles.” I just had to tell her that the one of the prettiest girls in our school when I was a boy had freckles just like hers and she should be proud of them. Oh yes, she also had large brown eyes like hers.
In my opinion, if you’ve got freckles, stay out of that early morning dew.
I washed my face in the morning dew
Bathed my soul in the sun
Washed my face in the morning dew
And kept on movin’ along
Tom T Hall
Tipper,
I once knew an odd feller that hit the morning dew on May 1st. In fact he hit the morning dew ever day of the year! He more that bathed in it. He was an ugly “old snoot” other than being “snookered” most of his life, he was a pretty nice guy!
Great Post Tipper,
We are supposed to have rains soon, and guess the flowers could us an extra boost.
This is an old one:
If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring? ….Pilgrims, of course!!
I don’t know why this Mother thinks of that joke every April and May that her sons told her when they were in elementry school!
Does anyone else remember a joke, told to them when their children were small, or is it just me?
Knock, Knock….no way, I’m kiddin’, never get the Grandchildren started on those! LOL
I am finding that some of these tales have some wishful thinking. They are new to me; I would love not to have a headache for a whole year. I wish I knew about the dew as it may have removed my wrinkles and spider tracks. I’ll mark it on my calendar for next year.
So why do I still have headaches?
I missed the may dew, but i got the rain part — only it doesn’t work. i’ve got a major migraine today.
My Aunt Gracie said that if you wash your face in the early morning dew it will fade your freckles.
I’m out the door!
Well, I did get wet in rain on May 1. I don’t think the dew would have helped my looks much and I woke up this morning with a headache.
Here in Black Mountain today would be the day to wet your head with rain water to prevent headaches. We have plenty of rain today. But, I’m thinking it’s a little cool for wetting one’s head out there, maybe this afternoon.
I’m glad you missed the 1st May Dew. If you got any prettier and you’d spend all your time smooching the mirror.
I missed the dew too, it was pouring when I left for work, my head should be perfect for a year!
Dang, I missed out on the May Day dew opportunity! But I will try to remember the headache preventative – just took the first Excedrin of the day.