The history of May day

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May Day is a public holiday usually celebrated on 1 May . It is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival [1] and a traditional spring holiday in many cultures. Dances, singing, and cake are usually part of the festivities . Traditional English May Day rites and celebrations include crowning a May Queen and celebrations involving a maypole .

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May queen The May Queen or Queen of May is a personification of the May Day holiday, and of springtime and also summer . Today, the May Queen is a girl who must ride or walk at the front of a parade for May Day celebrations. She wears a white gown to symbolise 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.

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Maypole On May Day, people used to cut down young trees and stick them in the ground in the village to mark the arrival of summer. People danced around the tree poles in celebration of the end of winter and the start of the fine weather that would allow planting to begin . Traditionally the dancing was done by women but has now become a popular children's activity. Each child holds one of the coloured ribbons and circles the maypole with a hopping, skipping step. Some of the children dance in one direction while others dance the opposite way around the pole, changing their direction at carefully chosen moments. As they dance, the children pass each other until the ribbons are plaited together and wrapped tightly around the Maypole. When the circle is as small as it can be, the dance is reversed and the ribbons unwind until the dancers come back to their starting places.