A festival marking the halfway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice has taken place throughout Europe since ancient times. When exactly the tradition began is not known but the Romans celebrated it with the Floralia, and references to a festival at the beginning of May appear too in early Irish literature.
The Roman Floralia was celebrated at the end of April and rites and games were organised in honour of the fertility goddess, Flora. These included theatrical performances, competitive games, and sacrifices to the goddess. As a festival essentially of fertility, hares and goats – animals regarded as particularly feracious – were ceremonially released, and prostitutes would dance naked while onlookers, bedecked with flowers, would drink wine to excess.
In the Celtic British Isles the festival was known as Beltane (Bealtaine in Ireland, Latha Bealltainn in Scotland and Boaltinn in the Isle of Man) and held on 1st May. Rituals were performed to protect the livestock that was about to be taken to summer pastures and the crops that had recently been planted. To this end purifying bonfires were set alight, and cattle would be led around and between the fires while human participants would leap over flames or hop over hot embers. As the hawthorn was one of the first plants to produce blossom it was used to decorate houses, livestock and people.
The festival of Beltane continues to this day, particularly in Ireland, while in England and in much of central and northern Europe, it has become known as May Day. As well as the lighting of bonfires and the gathering in of hawthorn blossom (May blossom), other traditions such as the crowning of a May Queen and dancing round a maypole have developed. In the village of Cerne Abbas in Dorset, young women would be encouraged to lie on the phallus of the Cerne Abbas giant at dawn on May Day to improve their fertility.
In eighteenth century England men would be covered in a wicker framework of foliage and, accompanied by musicians, would parade through villages and towns on May Day. During the nineteenth century London chimney sweeps were given one day’s holiday a year on May Day, and would use their day off to dress as Jack in the Green and dance through the streets.
In pre-Christian Europe the hawthorn was regarded as a symbol of hope and a protection against witchcraft and supernatural evil forces. With the arrival of Christianity an association between the thorny hawthorn and Jesus’ crown of thorns was introduced as a further indication of its power to protect against evil. It was therefore used to bedeck houses as well as livestock. The tradition of beating each other with hawthorn branches arose as a means of ‘beating out the devil’. If you are planning a party or gathering to celebrate May Day this particularly tradition is a very good icebreaker!
The origins of the May Pole are not clear, but it has been suggested that it first appeared in the Iron Age in northern Europe. The May Pole remains a central custom of May Day celebrations throughout Europe and the United States.
The first reference in the British Isles to a May Pole is in a Welsh poem from the mid fourteenth century; by the end of the century the tradition of erecting a tall pole in the centre of towns and villages had spread throughout much of Wales and England. Presumably the erection of a pole was associated with fertility, because after the reformation Protestants regarded it as a dangerously lascivious pagan custom – and it was banned, first during Edward VI’s reign and then during the Interregnum when it was regarded as ‘a Heathenish vanity, generally abused to superstition and wickedness’.
The May Pole returned as a central custom of May Day celebrations after the Restoration – much to the consternation of the Puritans who continued to regard the raucous dancing around such a phallic symbol as anti-religious. However, associations with any sexual symbols have been denied by many scholars, and the anthropologist Mircea Eliade suggests the pole simply represents the growth of new vegetation.
Originally the May Pole would be hung with garlands of blossom, particularly hawthorn blossom. During the nineteenth century came the addition of brightly coloured ribbons which, held by the surrounding dancers, would gradually be woven around the pole.
In the British Isles and parts of the Commonwealth, the May Queen or Queen of the May is a personification of the May Day holiday, and of springtime. The May Queen is a girl who rides or walks at the front of a parade for May Day celebrations. She wears a white gown to symbolise purity and usually a tiara or crown covered in flowers. Her duty is to begin the May Day celebrations.
The folklorist James Frazer speculated that the figure of the May Queen was linked to ancient tree worship.
In the High Middle Ages in England the May Queen was also known as the Summer Queen
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Draw a crown design on the two pieces of card (see picture above). Use a stanley knife or scalpel to cut out the design.
Staple the cut-out card together to make a round crown. Arrange the flowers around the base of the crown, using a stapler to attach them to the crown as close to the top of the stem as possible. Cut off any hanging stalks with scissors.
