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The Card-board Basket.

This game, although suggested by the ceremonies which, according to Waldron, usher in the month of May in the Isle of Man, is entirely new and bids fair to become popular, as it combines the elements of beauty, sentiment and mirth.

A number of young people separate into two parties, each having its queen; one the Queen of May, the other Queen of Winter. The May-queen and her attendants should be decked with flowers, Winter and her retinue being without decoration. Equipped with the appropriate implements of warfare between the two seasons, namely, a wreath of flowers for spring and a ball of raw cotton, or wool, representing snow, for winter, the contending forces draw up in opposing lines, the space between being about twelve feet. Each line is headed by its respective queen, who holds her missile in her hand.

Fig. 35.

The game is commenced by the two queens simultaneously tossing the wreath and ball to someone in the opposite line, whose name is called as the missile is thrown. Should the person to whom it is thrown fail to catch it, she is made prisoner and must do battle on the other side, being released only when she succeeds in catching the missile belonging to her own party.

When the wreath and ball are caught, they are instantly tossed back to the opposite rank, and so the game goes on. Hostilities must cease when prisoners are being taken or released, to be recommenced when both sides announce themselves ready.

If either queen is captured she is ransomed by the return of all the prisoners taken on her side; should she have no prisoners to release, the game is ended.

If the May-queen and her forces are defeated, they must strip off their floral decorations and give them to the victors, who, decked in these trophies, become the representatives of Spring, and the Queen of Winter is made Queen of May and is crowned by her vanquished and dethroned opponent. The former May-queen and her retinue, after offering their congratulations, must serve as attendants on the triumphant queen and do her bidding.

When the May-queen proves victorious the programme is reversed, and Winter and her party become the subjects of May.