MAY DAY

May Day is an ancient festival of spring and a current traditional spring holiday in many European cultures. Dances, singing, and cakes are usually part of the festivities.

May Day has been celebrated in England for two millennia. It is a day that is steeped in tradition and displays England's less modern side.

The first May Day celebrations were held over 2000 years ago by the Romans. They celebrated the festival of Flora, the roman goddess of flowers. It was also celebrated in many Germanic countries and developed into the May Day we celebrate today

Although May Day is the first of May, the spring bank holiday, created in 1978, is on the first Monday in May. May Day itself – 1 May – is not a public holiday in England (unless it falls on a Monday). On a bank holiday the majority of people in the UK have the day off from work or school.

The purpose of May Day is to celebrate the oncoming summer. Summer doesn't officially begin until June, but May Day celebrates the end of the colder weather and hope for a nice summer. May Day celebrations are associated with flowers as trees and plants begin to blossom around this time.

May Day is observed more keenly in the villages and small towns of the UK. There, people will dress in traditional clothes and take part in activities such as dancing around a May Pole, which dancers circle with colorful ribbons attached to it, and will demonstrate traditional dances such as Morris dancing. Also, girls will compete for the honour of being crowned the May Queen for that year.

Morris dancing is a form of English folk dance usually accompanied by music. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, usually wearing bell pads on their shins. Implements such as sticks, swords and handkerchiefs may also be wielded by the dancers. In a small number of dances for one or two people, steps are near and across a pair of clay tobacco pipes laid one across the other on the floor. They clap their sticks, swords, or handkerchiefs together to match with the dance.

The May Queen or Queen of May is a personification of the May Day holiday and of springtime and also summer. The May Queen is a girl who rides or walks at the front of a parade for May Day celebrations. She wears a white gown to symbolize purity and usually a tiara or crown. Her duty is to begin the May Day celebrations. She is generally crowned by flowers and makes a speech before the dancing begins. Certain age-groups dance around a Maypole celebrating youth and springtime.

A Maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place.

In the 17th century May Day was banned by the then Puritan government and reinstated in 1660 with the Restoration of King Charles II. Charles later amended all documents to show that he was coronated in 1649, instead of 1660.

In the late 19th century, the 1st of May was chosen as the date for International Workers' Day but it is a different celebration from the traditional May Day.

Do you have any celebrations similar to May Day in your country?