Photo Courtesy of the North Carolina State Archives
This May Day celebration featured the Flora Macdonald College May Day Scotch Dancers doing the Scottish Fling, sometime between 1910 and 1916. According to the present-day Flora Macdonald Academy, the college was founded in 1896 in Red Springs NC.
The Fayetteville Presbytery decided to establish a seminary for girls somewhere in the area. Red Springs came forward with the promise of $2500, four acres of land, and forty students, if the school should be located there. The offer was immediately accepted. Red Springs was also chosen because, in addition to the fact that it was a center of religious and social activity and abounded in the health giving mineral springs which gave the town its name, it was largely populated with the Scottish Highlanders to whom education and religion were life's most important requisites.
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Flora Macdonald Academy carries on many of the traditions of the old Flora Macdonald College. One of these is the annual May Day celebration held the first Saturday in May. Stemming from Roman celebrations of the coming of spring and borrowing traditions from the English holiday, the college and now the academy celebrates May Day. English customs are combined with Scottish music and dance, acknowledging the Scottish heritage of the school. The May Queen and her court process from the beautiful gardens to the front portico where they are entertained by the day's festivities. The traditional May Pole Dance, Sword dance and bagpipes are a part of these festivities. Along with many others, this time honored tradition has become an integral part of life at Flora Macdonald Academy.
