Mayday, originated in pagan Europe. It was a festive holy day celebrating the first spring planting. The ancient Celts and Saxons celebrated May 1st as Beltane or the day of fire. Bel was the Celtic god of the sun.
May 1st
is also the feast of St. Walburga. She was an eighth-century English nun who
lived and worked as a missionary in Germany. She was known as the protectress
against witchcraft and sorcery. In Germany the night before her feast day
is celebrated as Walpurgis Night, a feast to drive out evil spirits. This
night is exactly six months before Hallowe'en, the pagan night before another
Christian holy day, All Saint's Day.
The beginning of May was a very popular feast time for
the Romans. It was devoted primarily to the worship of Flora, the goddess
of flowers.
May Day has developed a more recent association as a day of celebration for the Labour Movement and the Monday nearest to May 1st is the May Day Bank Holiday.
May time festivities welcome Spring and the return of 'the green'. These activities go far back in history.
Maypole
Dancing
is the great tradition
around this time of year.
There are
basically two kinds of dances: the closed plait, where the pattern of ribbons
is wound around the pole, and the open plait, where the pattern is made by
the outer ribbons winding over top of the inner ones.
Here are several possible resulting patterns.
In Circling
the dancers skip
round the pole. No plaiting is involved.
The Barber's Pole
forms a striped pattern, spiralling down the pole like the traditional barber's
sign.
The Single Plait is a closed plait where the
ribbons are plaited round the pole.
In the Double Plait, the dancers work as pairs,
creating a plait down the pole.
The Umbrella or Spider's
Web is a conical open plait.
The Gypsy's Tent involves groups of 4 changing
places with partners and then with the partners of other pairs and creates
a complicated open plait.
In Plait the Rope the dancers work in groups
of three or four. The two outer dancers plait the pattern down one or two
inner dancers to form a rope.
Nuts
in May
This old music game is not about nuts at all, but "knots", meaning
little bunches of flowers or greenery which people would gather together for
Maytime decorations. The "Tug of war" is a traditional Maytime game,
and this is a musical version.
All:
Here we go gathering Nuts in May,
Nuts in May, Nuts in May,
Here we go gathering Nuts in May,
On a cold and frosty morning
First
group:
Who will you have for Nuts in May
Nuts in May, Nuts in May,
Who will you have for Nuts in May
On a cold and frosty morning?
Second
group:
We'll have (name) for Nuts in May,
Nuts in May, Nuts in May,
We'll have (name) for Nuts in May
On a cold and frosty morning
First
group:
Who will you have to pull him away
Pull him away, pull him away
Who will you have to pull him away
On a cold and frosty morning?
Second group:
We'll have (name) to pull him away,
Pull him away, pull him away,
We'll have (name) to pull him away,
On a cold and frosty morning.
