May Day

May Day is celebrated for two reasons: one is as an ancient spring festival, and the other is as Labour Day. This post will look at the spring festival.

It’s a day to celebrate the farm work being completed and the last of the seeds being planted. Labourers would have the day off to rest and celebrate. Perhaps the most famous portrayal of the May Day festival is in Thomas Hardy Tess of the d’Urbervilles. The heroine, Tess, appears for the first time at a May day celebration, dressed in white to symbolise her purity and innocence.

Traditional May Day celebrations include dancing around the maypole, and crowning a Queen of the May. Nobody really knows where the tradition of dancing round the maypole came from, but if you want to have a go I found this website with instructions on how to do so! www.maypoledance.com.