The magic of Revels has moved online — and our “Season of Reveling” continues in 2021 as we welcome Spring, renewal, and warmth!
Join us on the #MarchToMay as we share the holidays Revelers are celebrating from home, head outdoors to revel in the sunshine, and prepare to “welcome in the May-O” with a virtual Celebration of Spring!
Please support “A Season of Reveling” with an online donation by clicking the button below.
Spring holidays and celebrations from Revelers’ homes to yours!
Watch the many beautiful videos, activities, and events marking holidays and celebrations from a wide variety of traditions. Our “Book of Days” is filled with performances, tutorials, recipes, and coloring sheets for the special days that members of the Revels community are sharing with us during this Spring’s #MarchToMay, including the special video festival “Celebration of Spring!”
Click below to open our “Book of Days” and join the celebration!
We’re celebrating holidays year-round, and you can relive almost all of them at any time! Click here to see how the Revels community marked important days during the Fall of 2020.
Stay up to date on all Revels events and programs:
How We’re Celebrating Spring Holidays from Home & Outside!
Learn about the important days that Revelers are marking throughout the Spring, now presented in a new, easy-to-navigate format! Click on any of the icons below to read more and to download recipes, coloring sheets, and more.
January 28
Tu B’Shevat
Learn about “Jewish Arbor Day” in this post from Reveler Rowyn Peel and wish a tree “Happy New Year!”
Learn more →
February 26
Purim
See the many traditions that make up this joyous holiday, including special recipes from the Revels community.
Learn more →
March 17
Saint Patrick’s Day
Revelers share their Irish traditions on social media, starting with a video from our 2014 Irish Christmas Revels, to mark this Saint’s Day celebrated in Ireland and around the world.
Learn more →
March 21
Spring Equinox
Each year we “Welcome Spring!” at our virtual Community Sing on March 21! Watch the recording of this year’s event on Facebook Live. (No FB Account needed to watch.)
Learn more →
March 27-April 4
Passover
Learn how members of the Revels community are celebrating one of the most important holidays in the Jewish calendar.
Learn more →
April 11
Spring Pub Sing
To welcome Spring, members of the Revels community lead a virtual song circle in timeless favorites! We had a great time, and Pub Sing attendees are enjoying their on-demand video access through the end of April.
April 21-22
Earth Day
Raise your voice at our annual Earth Day-Eve Community Sing, and then enjoy a re-broadcast of last Fall’s virtual “Emerald Stream” performance to celebrate our beautiful planet.
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May 1
May Day
To mark May Day 2021, we relived our first-ever virtual choral performance: Now Is the Month of Maying (in the time of COVID) with the Washington Revels Gallery Voices.
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May 5
Cinco de Mayo
In honor of Cinco de Mayo, sing along with this gem from the early days of Daily Antidote of Song and guest artist Lilo Gonzalez, who led us in a joyous rendition of “De Colores” to brighten one of the early days of the pandemic.
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May 9
Mother’s Day
Revelers wrote in to share their experiences as Stage Mothers and Stage Children in our annual productions. Learn what makes the “Stage Family” experience so powerful for our performers as we celebrate mothers everywhere!
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May 22
Celebration of Spring!
With dances, parades, and plays filmed live on location at historic Glen Echo Park, the Revels community welcomed the “Greening of the Year” with a virtual festival for all ages.
Learn more →
Please support “A Season of Reveling” and this series of videos and activities:
Marking the “Greening of the Year”!
If You Registered, Enjoy Your Access through June 5
Lower Left Photo Credit: Dave Fimbres/SemiCharmedLife Photography LLC
A Virtual Festival to Welcome Spring in DC!
Open the windows, bask in balmy breezes, and enjoy a virtual festival of May traditions old and new! Our special “Celebration of Spring” video release captures all the joy of May Revels — a DC tradition for over 35 years — and places YOU at the center of the fun in a totally new way.
No Zoom boxes here… delight in May whimsy set against the beauty of DC in full bloom, with special surprises from Revelers as they frolic through historic Glen Echo Park!
Springtime Traditions for the Whole Family:
- Kick things off with a “Reveler’s-eye view” as our cameras bring you inside a boisterous procession through the Park, led by guest musician Jennifer Cutting and the (in)famous “Noisy Band.”
- Then the Washington Revels Jubilee Voices welcomes you to the festivities with the West African greeting song Funga Alafia — you’ll pick it up quickly, and we hope you sing along!
- The first-ever Washington Revels flash mob will bring the dance moves of Rattlin’ Bog to life — sing along on this fast-paced, musical-memory challenge led by guest artists Jennifer Cutting and Steve Winick, and keep up with the words if you can!
- As always, there’ll be fun for all ages, by all ages! Our Teen Chorus has been rehearsing a Spring mummers play that only the teenage mind could dream up. And the Revels Kids will show your little ones the American Sign Language lyrics to the Ella Jenkins classic, You’ll Sing a Song and I’ll Sing a Song.
- Experience timeless May Revels songs Country Life and Wild Mountain Thyme set against the backdrop of the nature they honor and celebrate.
- Finally, what Springtime celebration would be complete without a colorful Maypole dance? This year you’ll see intricately wound maypoles across the DC region, danced for us by Revels families and pods in their backyards — including our friends and frequent collaborators Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, and their Happenstance Theater family.
The Revels Community invites you to the final ‘Season of Reveling’ event on our #MarchToMay!
Thanks to Our May Donor Circle!
This free event is made possible in part by generous contributions from:
Bill & Diana Conway
Mary Gene & Ted Myer
Mary Swope
Terry & Diane Winslow