When pole dancing was the centre of May Day fun
MAY Day is May 1, although today we have a Bank Holiday on the nearest Monday to May 1.
May Day was traditionally the occasion of great fun and merry-making, with people dancing around maypoles.
We tend to think of maypoles in idyllic settings on village greens, but they were erected in towns and cities too.
Originally maypoles were painted with spiral stripes and often had garlands on top of them, but they did not have the ribbons that we associate with them today.
In this country the ribbon-plaiting dance dates from the 19th century.
In earlier times people simply danced in a circle around the maypole.
In 1644, maypoles were banned by the Long Parliament, because the Protestant majority disapproved of them, saying they were idols.
When Charles II came to the throne in 1660, following the death of Oliver Cromwell and the collapse of the Commonwealth of England, maypoles were once more in favour.
On May Eve (the day before May Day) young men and women collected may blossom (hawthorn blossom) for garlands and a young woman was elected Queen of the May and presided over the celebrations. It is worth remembering that under the old calendar, May Day would have been around 12 days later than it is today, so that the May blossom was more likely to be in flower.