Dew Treading

Dew Treading

Between April 30 and June 3; Ascension DayBoth city and country dwellers in the Netherlands continue to observe the old folk custom known as Dauwtrappen ("dew treading") on Ascension Day, which is also a public holiday. People take their children to the fields—or, in the case of city dwellers, to the suburbs—to walk through the morning dew and gather spring flowers. According to an old superstition, the Ascension Day dew possesses supernatural growing and healing powers. In the country, it is customary for friends and neighbors to meet each other at an inn for a big breakfast afterward.
SOURCES:
FestWestEur-1958, p. 133