The outbreak into beauty which Nature makes at the end of April and beginning of May excites so joyful and admiring a feeling in the human breast, that there is no wonder the event should have at all times been celebrated in some way. – May 1st, Chambers’ Book of Days”
Inquiring readers,
Ah, the merry month of May, when flowers bloom in the meadows and young couples go a-maying. May 1st is a day when fertility and fecundity are celebrated with gaiety, song, and dance. On May Day the ancient Celts celebrated the Pagan festival of Beltane around a roaring fire on the tops of hills and mountains. Coincidentally, the Romans celebrated the first of May Day in honor of the goddess Flora. According to the Chambers’ Book of Days,
“Nations taking more or less their origin from Rome have settled upon the 1st of May as the special time for fetes of the same kind. With ancients and moderns alike it was one instinctive rush to the fields, to revel in the bloom which was newly presented on the meadows and the trees; the more city-pent the population, the more eager apparently the desire to get among the flowers, and bring away samples of them: – Ibid
In medieval times the day was dedicated to Robin Hood, but by 1645, Oliver Cromwell had banned May Day celebrations because of their association with pagan rituals. The celebrations were brought back after the Restoration, when King Charles II was placed on the British throne.
Now the bright morning Star, Dayes harbinger,
Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her
The Flowry May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow Cowslip, and the pale Primrose.
Hail bounteous May that dost inspire
Mirth and youth, and warm desire,
Woods and Groves, are of thy dressing,
Hill and Dale, doth boast thy blessing.
Thus we salute thee with our early Song,
And welcom thee, and wish thee long.
– Song on May Morning, John Milton
The following quote from Brand’s & Ellis’s Observations on Popular Antiquities (1813) takes you back to the Elizabethan era:
“IT was anciently the custom for all ranks of people to go out a Maying early on the first of Maya. Bourne tells us that, in his time, in the villages in the North of England, the juvenile part of both sexes were wont to rise a little after midnight on the morning of that day, and walk to some neighbouring wood, accompanied with musick and the blowing of horns, where they broke down branches from the trees and adorned them with nosegays and crowns of flowers. This done, they returned homewards with their booty, about the time of sun- rise, and made their doors and windows triumph in the flowery spoil. – (Brand & Ellis, Observations on Popular Antiquities…Vulgar Customs, Ceremonies and Superstitions, 1813, pp. 179-180.)
Back then people festooned doors and windows with flower garlands. Every village, town, and district affixed a pole in a public space as “high as a ship’s vessel”. A tree of an appropriate height was selected and brought in with much ceremony. It was then erected in a spot where it stood from year to year. Many of these poles stood much higher than the church steeple in a village or town.
Maypole, Chambers’ Book of Days, May 1st
The MayPole
“But their cheefest Jewell they bring from thence” [the woods] ” is their Male poole, whiche they bring home with greatc veneration, as thus. They have twentie or fourtie yoke of oxen, every oxe havyng a sweete nosegaie of flowers tyed on the tippe of his homes, and these oxen drawe home this Maie poole, (this stinckyng Idoll rather,) which is covered all over with flowers and hearbes, bounde rounde aboute with stringes, from the top to the bottomo, and some- tyme painted with variable colours, with twoo or three hundred men, women, and children followyng it, with greate devotion.” – Brand & Ellis, p. 193
The MayPole was festooned with wreaths of flowers; revelers danced in rings around it for nearly the entire day. Then, as mentioned before, during Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth those revelries ceased:
“By an ordinance of the [Long] Parliament, in April 1644, all May Poles were taken down, and removed by the constables, churchwardens, &c. After the restoration, they were permitted to be erected again’.” – Brand & Ellis, p. 195
Milk maids dance on May Day, Chambers’ Book of Days
The Book of Chambers writes: “The Puritans—those most respectable people, always so unpleasantly shown as the enemies of mirth and good humour — caused May-poles to be uprooted, and a stop put to all their jollities; but after the Restoration they were everywhere re-erected, and the appropriate rites re-commenced.”
Just sixteen years later, “maypoles were raised across the land as a gleeful marker of the end of Puritan prohibitions.” (John Chu, National Trust). Rites included chimney sweeps hustling for coins in the streets and milkmaids dancing for pennies as they balanced silverware on their heads.
The Green Man in Jane Austen’s Day
Green Man, Wikimedia Commons, File: Domreiter, Blattmaske.jpg
Since early Christian days, many of Britain’s cathedrals and churches – those in countries that were populated by the ancient Romans – featured sculpted images of the “green man.” These pagan images were carved for Christian churches before the Restoration, for superstitions pertaining to nature and tree worship still influenced the middle ages. The Green Man symbolized life, or the death and rebirth that heralded spring and the promise of a plentiful harvest in the coming months. The early churches might have tied these beliefs to the resurrection, which made sense in terms of the Christian faith.
During Austen’s day, the tradition of Jack-in-the-Green became a common sight.
May Day, or, Jack-in-the-Green
We’ll banish Care, and all his Train
Nor thought of Sadness round us play
Fly distant hence, corroding pain
For happiness shall crown this Day.
(20th June 1795) (May Day, All Things Georgian)
The Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser first mentioned the Jack-in-the-Green in 1775, (the year of Jane Austen’s birth). The character was a man who concealed his body with green foliage. This “walking tree” paraded in processions, along with a King and Queen (or a Lord and lady), and jesters, clowns, chimney sweeps, and musicians. The Jack-in-the-Green tradition largely died out in the Victorian era.
© The Trustees of the British Museum “A street scene. An elderly man and woman, wearing tawdry finery, dance opposite each other, to the music of a wooden-legged fiddler (left). Between and behind them a grinning face looks from a pyramid of greenery, supported on the feet of the Jack in the Green. A couple of chimney-sweeps dance in the middle distance on the extreme right, and in the background (left) two other climbing-boys on a tiny scale dance together. Beneath the title: ‘We’ll banish Care, and all his Train Nor thought of Sadness round us play Fly distant hence, corroding pain For happiness shall crown this Day.’ 20 June 1795 Etching”
_______
Happy 1st day of May, all! Looking at my yard and its fresh greenery, spring flowers, and the activity of nesting birds, and the pregnant deer wandering through my yard, I realize why May Day traditions and celebrations of fertility continue in this day and age.
I leave you with a wonderful video of Morris dancers, whose traditions stem back to the custom of dancing around the maypole. These dances evolved into rival performances among neighboring villages and eventually evolved into Morris dancing. You can find many regional examples online. This video shows only one such interpretation.
Sources: Find more information about May Day in the links below.
Hillman’s Hyperlinked and Searchable Chambers’ Book of Days, a website based on The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities, W & R Chambers (1869). Searched link: May 1st. Scroll down to May Day. May 1st
Brand, John & Ellis, Henry, Observations on Popular Antiquities Chiefly illustrating the origin of our vulgar customs, Ceremonies and Superstitions: Arranged and revl, with additions. (Published in 1813) Internet Archive Digital Book
May Day: the tradition of the Jack-in-the-Green and chimney sweeps, All Things Georgian, Joanne Major, 2017. https://georgianera.wordpress.com/tag/may-day/
Satirical Print, The British Museum, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1866-1114-640
The Green Man, Ellen Castelow, & May Day Celebrations, Ben Johnson Historic UK
Green Man, Wikipedia. A foliate head in the shape of an acanthus leaf: a corbel supporting the Bamberg Horseman, Bamberg cathedral, Germany, early 13th century. Public Domain File: Domreiter, Blattmaske.jpg Green man sculptures seen in Iraq, Istanbul, North Wales, etc.
The MayPole Tradition in Ireland, The Fading Years blog, April 26, 2017
The history of May Day, a spring celebration, John Chu, National Trust, UK.
Jane Austen's World 
Happy May Day to you and everyone as well. May is a joyous month as all the earth seems to burst forth after a long winter. I understand why we celebrate it!
Every blade of grass and leaf of tree looks so fresh! The spring flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing, and my yard birds are nesting and hungry to feed their young. May is indeed a magical time.
Great facts about May, Vic. As to the enigmatic Green Man sitting under a fine heroic equestrian statue, an archetype of ancient power, in Bamberg cathedral – both are pagan in some aspect. Here’s the famous Stefan Georg poem that inspired von Stauffenberg. Translation by Charles Netzer
O you most strange, yet you break like a true scion
To good return from your nation’s flank.
This cathedral shows you not: down from your steed
Warlike and proud as a kingly Franconian!
Then are you bodily in the keep
Chiseled – no longer Ghibelline or Guelf –
Just a tranquil artist who did his best
Waiting in reverie till heaven help.
Hi Patty, I love how this day is celebrated in once Roman occupied countries like the Germanic countries (Nuremberg as an example), Wales, Croatia, etc.
What a beautifully written and interesting post! I love learning about how seasonal folk traditions relate to Jane Austen’s life and works. Would it be okay to recommend this post to readers of my author blog?https://www.facebook.com/HollyMerryauthor
Please do, and thank you for stopping by.
I used to join the pagan ceremonies locally, and we had much revelry dancing around the Maypole and twining the ribbons as shown in the video here. It’s a wonderful time of year, as life surges anew in Nature!
In my region in the U.S., Celtic Festivals are held in spring, summer, and fall, where sheepdog trials are held (so exciting!), men in kilts from North Carolina, Virginia and up to Connecticut toss heavy objects, such as a Scottish hammer. The food and music are reminiscent of days of yore. I just love these festivals and learned to love Celtic music during my 3 visits to New Zealand. Thank you for stopping by. Yes, life surges anew during spring.
Happy May Day!
I enjoyed your article. I only remember celebrating it in elementary school.
denise
I did not celebrate this festival until I moved to the mid-Atlantic region after college and attended Celtic festivals. Such fun! http://www.vascottishgames.org/Sheepherding.html
Cecil County has games at Fair Hill. Take US1 to RTE 273 if you want to avoid 95. If you hit Delaware, you went too far. ;) You can’t miss it because of the traffic on 273.
May 21, 2022 http://fairhillscottishgames.org/
And the games at Grandfather Mountain, NC, claim to be the largest outside of Scotland.
I actually own a picture of May poling around the maypole. I acquired it some time ago and I enjoy viewing it again and again. This post made me appreciate it all the more. Thank you.