ALBANY - At the end of April in past years, people would begin gathering flowers and candies and other goodies to put in May baskets to hang on the doors of friends, neighbors and loved ones May 1. Considered quaint now, in decades past May Basket Day, like the ancient act of dancing around the maypole, was a widespread rite of spring in the United States. Through the 19th and 20th centuries, May Basket Day celebrations took place across the nation.