Celebrating the First of May
The Maypole
In many villages and rural areas in Britain May Day celebrates the coming of summer and many traditional activities still take place. Maypoles are set up on Village Greens, with brightly coloured streamers, each person holds a streamer and dances around the Maypole, intertwining the various streamers, as demonstrated in this video
The May Queen
Every May Day a young girl is chosen and crowned May Queen she is crowned with a garland of flowers and sits on a wooden throne. I am never quite sure of the purpose of a May Queen as she does not join in the revelry or dancing but just sits and oversees all the festivities,
Morris Dancing
The first time ever that I saw Morris Dancing was in the 70's on a comedy sketch by Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett in 'The Two Ronnies'. I didn't realise that people did Morris Dancing, I just thought it was something from the fertile mind of Ronnie Barker., but I was wrong. Morris Dancing has been going for hundreds of years and although it is popularly thought to be part of British country folklore, there are groups, or troupes? all over the world.. In the time of Shakespeare Morris Dancing was associated with the festival of Whitsun, and William Kent, a contemporary of Shakespeare is recorded as having Morris danced from London to Norwich. Oliver Cromwell banned all such festivities, but they were reinstated when the monarchy restored under Charles11. In Blackpool we do not seem to celebrate any of the May Day activities, though I do remember some Morris Dancing Championships taking place in the Blackpool Tower.
Finally, here is my introduction to Morris Dancing the sketch from the Two Ronnies that I have always enjoyed
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