May Day
Called Garland Day in some places, the Celtic festival of Beltane, considered an unlucky month for marriage (which still exists as a superstition – with the connotations of fertility and spring attached to the festivities I can’t think why, unless one didn’t want to be suspected of needing to rush the wedding). Ne’er cast a clout ‘til May be out, although that may be the blossom not the end of the month.
Also in modern secular celebrations it is Labour Day, it traditionally being a day off for the labourers, which was taken to ludicrous heights by the Soviet era annual parade of military might through Moscow’s Red Square.
I always wanted to dance round a maypole when I was a child; it wasn’t much done in urban areas then.
These are girls dancing at a Dorset fete in 2006, quite near to where my Mother-in-Law’s family originate.
Below is part of a garland dance by Bishop Gundulphs Morris, taken in Rochester at the Sweeps festival. Which is where we will be over the weekend.
Posted on 5:53 AM by Esmerelda Weatherwax
