Dating back to ancient times, May Day is celebrated on the first day of May. The maypole is the center of the festivities and children dance around it. https://youtu.be/bihp9J4HrHs
The celebration of May Day dates back to ancient times when Romans celebrated the festival of Flora, the goddess of flowers and spring. In Britain, Celtic people celebrated the festival of Beltane on the first of May to mark the halfway point between spring and summer, in contrast to the festival of Samain that fell halfway between autumn and winter on November 1.
Many of the old customs celebrating new life and fertility survive to this day, including Morris dancing and dancing around the maypole. The earliest maypoles were probably young trees chopped down and erected on the village green with ribbons pinned to the top for local children to dance around.
Today rehearsals often take place weeks in advance to ensure that the ribbons form artful plaits around the maypole instead of a tangled web of knots.
Despite often being the butt of jokes, Morris dancers are in high demand on May Day, performing at pubs and on village greens up and down the country.
Many Morris dancers dance in the dawn, including the Wessex Morris Men who climb above the Cerne Abbas Giant at 5.15 am and the Men of Wight who circle the megalithic Longstone at Mottistone as the sun comes up.
Morris dancing dates back at least 600 years, although it is unclear where the dance style came from, or what it represents. Most groups that exist today were formed after the 1930s, basing their dancing style on information collected by folklorists, although some groups, including those at Abingdon and Chipping Campden, can trace their routes back to the 1800s.
Dressing up in strange costumes appears to be a running theme when it comes to celebrating May Day, and nothing beats the attire of Jack in the Green, who wears a foliage-covered framework in May Day parades.
It is widely believed that Jack represents the Green Man, a symbol of fertility, but Jacks has also adopted sometimes adopted the cheeky character of Puck.
Although many May Day celebrations date back centuries, they vary from place to place. We’ve rounded up five examples of classic May Day celebrations that take place this weekend.
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