May Day in England

Origins and meaning

May Day, on 1 May, has long marked the arrival of spring. Customs associated with it include gathering green branches and wildflowers to decorate buildings, known as bringing in the May, crowning a May Queen, and dancing around a maypole. In England, traditional celebrations centre on the May Queen and the maypole, around which dancers often circle with ribbons, and Morris dancing is often part of the day. The earliest records of maypole celebrations date from the 14th century, and by the 15th century the tradition was well established in southern Britain. In 1515, King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon rode out from Greenwich Palace for a “Maying” with a breakfast in the woods, a pageant and dancing. May Day was banned by Puritan parliaments in the mid-17th century but was restored in 1660.

How it is celebrated today

Many towns and villages keep their May Day traditions alive, some with records going back more than a century, such as Ickwell in Bedfordshire and Knutsford in Cheshire. In Oxford, it is a centuries-old tradition for people to gather below the Great Tower of Magdalen College at 6am on May Morning to hear the college choir sing. In Padstow in Cornwall, the ’Obby ’Oss, a hobby horse, dances through streets decorated with spring greenery, accompanied by accordion players and followers dressed in white with red or blue sashes, and thousands of people come to watch. In some places, Jack in the Green, a folk figure covered in greenery, parades through the streets with musicians. England also has an early May bank holiday on the first Monday in May, when some local celebrations take place, such as the Flower Boat Ritual in the Cornish villages of Kingsand and Cawsand. Customs vary from place to place, and many communities have revived their celebrations.