How Merry Monarch saved our May Day celebrations
Gather round the maypole – it’s a day for fun and revelry around the country.
The official bank holiday is on Monday, May 6 – but Wednesday is May 1, known to the Celts as Beltane, the first day of summer.
Through the centuries May Day has been marked with dancing round the maypole, the selection of the May Queen and the dancing figure of the Jack-in-thegreen at the head of the procession.
The pagan roots did little to endear May Day festivities to Church or State. In the 16th century riots followed when May Day celebrations were banned. Fourteen rioters were hanged.
The May Day festivities all but vanished following the English Civil War when Oliver Cromwell and his Puritans took control of the country in 1645.
Describing maypole dancing as “a heathenish vanity generally abused to superstition and wickedness”, legislation was passed which saw the end of village maypoles throughout the country. They also banned pubs and Christmas… no wonder Charles II regained the throne.
Known – because of his licentious, profligate court – as the Merry Monarch, he helped ensure the support of his subjects by putting up a 130ft-high maypole in London’s Strand.
It signalled the return of the fun times and remained standing for 50 years.
Maypoles can still be seen on village greens at Welfordon-avon and Dunchurch, Warwickshire, both of which stand all year. Barwick in Elmet, near Leeds claims one of the largest maypoles in England, standing 86ft tall.
May Day traditions also include the hobby horses rampaging through Dunster and Minehead in Somerset. The horse, or the Oss as it is normally called, is a local person dressed in flowing robes wearing a mask with a grotesque but colourful, caricature of a horse.
In Oxford, May Day morning is celebrated from the top of Magdalen College Tower by the singing of a Latin hymn. After this the college bells signal the start of the Morris dancing in the streets below.
A word of warning – ‘Never cast a clout (coat) til May is out’.