COMMUNITIES EMBRACE ANCIENT TRADITION BY CREATING THEIR VERY
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THE summer season was well and truly welcomed right around the county recently as people got on board with the ancient tradition of decorating a May Bush. Funded by the Arts Department at Wexford County Council, the ‘May Bush Festival’ saw brightly decorated bushes spring up in towns, villages and gardens right across Wexford.
Initially, the practice of decorating a May Bush with ribbons, seasonal flowers and coloured eg shells, was said to bring good luck and welcome th summer season. In effect it was the correspondin event to ‘Samhain’ at Halloween. Hoping to resur
the practice were Aileen Lambert and Michael Fortune from folklore.ie who held a number of talks across the county informing people of the history of the practice and how to decorate their very own May Bush.
‘There are families across the county who have done this for years,’ Aileen said. ‘A lot of older people might have done it and it was great to see the likes of crèches and tidy towns groups take it up this year. It’s a great activity to do with kids and we had a lot of wonderful examples sent on to us.’ For more information, see The May Bush Facebook page.
The May Bush in Ballindaggin village.
Nellie Fortune decorating the May Bus in Ballindaggin village.
May Bush in Ferns thanks to Ferns Tidy Towns and all the little helpers from Little Acorns Montessori School, Cairde Beaga Montessori and Elaine O’Connor’s pre school.
Outside the Bygone Storytelling House in Oulart, thanks to Eileen Dempsey.
Local children singing a song during the decorating of the May Bush at Ballindaggin.
New Ross Tidy Towns decorating a May Bush at the old Albatros site in Rosbercon.
Kat Plazewska Knopf, making her very first May Bush with her granny Irene Plazewska from Kilanerin.
Mary Walsh from Assumptiuon Terrace, New Ross putting up her May Bush.
Katty and they used t
May Bush in Ferns thanks to Ferns Tidy Towns and all the little helpers from Little Acorns Montessori School, Cairde Beaga Montessori and Elaine O’Connor’s pre school.
Nellie Fortune, Curragraigue.
A May Bush demonstration at SiggInstown Castle, Tacumshane.
Katty Byrne’s May Bush in Ballindaggin.
May Bush form Martina Jordan, Ballindaggin.
May Bush in the Maudlins with Philo Whelan in the background.
May Bush by Zdenka Maksimova from New Ross. Zdenka is originally from Slovakia where a similar tradition is also practiced.
Jim Byrne from Ballindaggin with their egg shells that o decorate their May Bush.