- This article discusses the tall wooden pole. For other uses see Maypole (disambiguation)
The maypole is a tall wooden pole (traditionally of maple (Acer), hawthorn or birch), sometimes erected with several long coloured ribbons suspended from the top, festooned with flowers, draped in greenery and strapped with large circular wreaths, depending on local and regional variances. Åmmeberg is a small Swedish locality (pop circa 600 in Askersund Municipality, Örebro County in the southern part of the province of Närke Acer ( maple) is a Genus of Trees or Shrubs They are variously classified in a family of their own the Aceraceae, or Hawthorn ( Crataegus) is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Birch is the name of any Tree of the genus Betula ( Bé-tu-la) in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the What is often thought of as the "traditional" English/British maypole (a somewhat shorter, plainer version of the Scandinavian pole with ribbons tied at the top and hanging to the ground) is a relatively recent development of the tradition and is probably derived from the picturesque, Italianate dances performed in mid-19th century theatricals. It is usually this shorter, plainer maypole that people (usually school children) perform dances around, weaving the ribbons in and out to create striking patterns.
With roots in Germanic paganism, the maypole traditionally appears in most Germanic countries, Germanic country-bordering and countries invaded by Germanic tribes after the fall of the Roman Empire (like Spain, France and Italy), but most popularly in Germany, Sweden, Austria, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Finland in modern times for Spring, May Day, Beltane and Midsummer festivities and rites. Germanic paganism refers to the religious beliefs of the Germanic peoples preceding Christianization. Germania was the Latin Exonym for Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Austria (Österreich ( officially the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The Czech Republic ( ˈt͡ʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka short form in Česko ˈt͡ʃɛskɔ also called Czechia, Hungary (Magyarország 'mɔɟɔrorsaːg) officially in English the Republic of Hungary ( Magyar Köztársaság, literally Magyar (Hungarian Republic Slovakia (long form Slovak Republic; Slovak:, long form, is a Landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over five million Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija) is a Country in southern Central Europe bordering Italy to the west Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. Spring is one of the four Temperate Seasons Spring marks the transition from Winter into Summer. May Day occurs on May 1 and refers to any of several Public holidays In many countries May Day is synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour Beltane is the anglicized spelling of Bealtaine ( or Bealltainn ( the Gaelic names for either the month of May or the festival that takes place on Midsummer may simply refer to the period of time centered upon the summer solstice, but more often refers to specific European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice
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Regional traditions
Germany
Greece
In Greece people do the maypole dance. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. This article discusses the tradition of Maypole setting and dancing in Bavaria and most parts of Germany. Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία Maypole is referred as Mayoksylo ( Μαγιόξυλο)and it also has a phallic symbolism. The word phallus can refer to an erect Penis, or to an object shaped like a penis Mayoksylo is the trunk of a young cypress tree, decorated with yellow daisies and fruits. Cypress is the name applied to many Plants in the conifer family Cupressaceae (cypress family People traditionally gather wild flowers and make a wreath with them.
In Corfu island they have to steal the flowers from gardens to make the wreath. Corfu (Κέρκυρα Kérkyra, ˈkʲe̞ɾkʲiɾa Κέρκυρα or Κόρκυρα Corcyra Corfù is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea They hang this wreath on the front door and they burn it in the bonfires of summer solstice, the day of St John the Baptist's birthday also known as midsummer (June 24). Solstices occur twice a year when the tilt of the Earth's axis is most oriented toward or away from the Sun, causing the Sun to reach its northernmost and southernmost extremes Saint John the Baptist ( heb. Jochanan ben Sacharja, arab. يحيى Yaḥyā or يوحنا Yūḥanna, aram.
In the south, especially in the island of Krete they avoid marriages, as May is considered to be the month of the dead and the marriage would be an unlucky one. Crete ( Greek: Κρήτη transliteration: Krētē, modern transliteration Kriti) is the largest of the Greek islands and the
Sweden
In Sweden and swedish speaking parts of Finland the maypole is usually called a midsummer pole, midsommarstång, as it appears at the Midsummer celebrations, although the literal translation majstång also occurs. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. The traditions surround they maypoles vary locally, as does the design of the poles, although the somewhat phallic design of a cross with two rings is most common. Common in all of Sweden are traditional ring dances, mostly in the form of dances where you are alternating dancing and making movements and gestures based on on the songs, such as pretending that you are scrubbing laundry while singing about washing, or jumping as frogs during the song Små grodorna (The little frogs). The ring dancing is thus naturally mostly popular with small children.
United Kingdom
In the 16th century maypoles were communal symbols, being erected as group activities by a parish (or by several parishes in concert if they did not have the means to do so individually). A parish is a Local church; it is an administrative unit typically found in episcopal or presbyterian churches They were often the focus of rivalries between villages, who would steal one anothers' poles. (In Hertfordshire in 1602 and in Warwickshire in 1639 such thefts led to violence. Hertfordshire (ˈhɑːtfədʃə(r, abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of Geography Warwickshire is bounded to the northwest by the West Midlands Metropolitan county and Staffordshire, by Leicestershire to ) Owners of woods and forests (such as the Earl of Huntingdon in 1603 who was furious to discover that his estates had been the source of the maypoles used in Leicester) were also the victims of theft, as it was often the case that they were not consulted about the use of their timber. Leicester (ˈlɛstə is the largest city and Unitary authority area in the East Midlands of England, and is the traditional [1]
Hostility towards maypoles, emanating from evangelical Protestants, grew, first manifesting itself significantly during the Reformation of Edward VI, when a preacher denounced the Cornhill maypole as an idol, causing it to be taken out of storage, sawn up, and burned. Edward VI (12 October 1537 &ndash 6 July 1553 became King of England and Ireland on 28 January 1547 and was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine Under Mary and Elizabeth I this opposition to traditional festivities lacked government support, with Elizabeth recorded as being fond of them, but Protestant pressure to remove maypoles, as a symbol of the mixed-gender dancing, drunkenness, and general merry-making on Sundays that they opposed (see Sabbatarianism), grew nonetheless. In Christianity, the Sabbath is generally a weekly religious Day of rest as ordained by one of the Ten Commandments (the third by Roman Catholic Between 1570 and 1630, maypoles were banned from Banbury, Bristol, Canterbury, Coventry, Doncaster, Leicester, Lincoln, and Shrewsbury; and there is no historical evidence for their use inside the city limits of London. Banbury is a Market town located on the River Cherwell in northern Oxfordshire, England. Bristol ( ˈbrɪstəl is a city, Unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London Canterbury ( ˈkæntəbɹ̩i is a City in eastern Kent in the South East region of England. Coventry ( is a city and Metropolitan borough in the County of West Midlands in England. Doncaster is a large town in South Yorkshire, England and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. Leicester (ˈlɛstə is the largest city and Unitary authority area in the East Midlands of England, and is the traditional Lincoln (ˈlɪŋkən is a Cathedral city and County town of Lincolnshire, England. Shrewsbury ( /ˈʃruːzbri/ or /ˈʃroʊzbri/ is the County town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England Of the four Berkshire villages whose accounts still exist, three sold their maypoles between 1588 and 1610. Berkshire (ˈbɑːkʃə or /ˈbɑːkʃɪə/ say Baak-shuh/-sheer sometimes abbreviated to Berks) is a Home County in the South However, the trend was not uniformly towards the banning of maypoles. There are many records of their continued use in the 1630s, and Charles I and James I explicitly allowed maypole dancing on Sundays. Charles I, (19 November 1600 &ndash 30 January 1649 was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution. James VI and I (19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625 was King of Scotland as James VI, and King of England and King of Ireland as James [1]
That royal support contributed to the outlawry of maypole displays and dancing during the English Interregnum, by the Long Parliament's ordinance of 1644, describing maypoles as "a Heathenish vanity, generally abused to superstition and wickedness"[1]. An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of discontinuity of a government organization or social order The Long Parliament is the name of the English Parliament called by Charles I, on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. The only recorded breach of the Long Parliament's prohibition was in 1655 in Henley-in-Arden, where local officials stopped the erection of maypoles for traditional games. Henley-in-Arden (also known as simply Henley) is a small town in Warwickshire, England. Scholars suspect, but have no way to prove, that the lack of such records indicates official connivance in flouting of the prohibition. However, they are certain that the prohibition turned maypole dancing into a symbol of resistance to the Long Parliament and to the republic that followed it. [1]
When the Restoration occurred in 1660, common people in London, in particular, put up maypoles "at every crossway," according to Aubrey. The term " English Revolution " refers to the period of the English Civil Wars and Commonwealth period 1640-1660 in which Parliament challenged King Charles London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. The largest was in the Strand, near the current St Mary-le-Strand church. The Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. St Mary-le-Strand is a Church of England church at the eastern end of the Strand in the City of Westminster, London. The maypole there was the tallest by far, and it stood until being blown over by a high wind in 1672, when it was moved to Wansted in Essex and served as a mount for a telescope. [2][1]
In the countryside, may dances and maypoles appeared sporadically even during the Interregnum, but the practice was revived substantially and joyously after the Restoration. By the 19th century, the maypole had been subsumed into the symbology of "Merry England. " Merry England " sometimes archaised as " Merrie England " refers to a Utopian conception of English society and culture based on an Idyllic " The addition of intertwining ribbons seems to have been influenced by a combination of 19th century theatrical fashion and visionary individuals such as John Ruskin in the 19th century. John Ruskin (8 February 1819 &ndash 20 January 1900 is best known for his work as an Art critic, sage writer, and Social critic, but is remembered Pairs of boys and girls (or men and women) stand alternately around the base of the pole, each holding the end of a ribbon. They weave in and around each other, boys going one way and girls going the other and the ribbons are woven together around the pole until the merry-makers meet at the base.
There are also more complex dances for set numbers of (practised) dancers, (the May Queen dancing troups), involving complicated weaves and un-weaves, but they're not well known today. The May Queen or Queen of May is a term which has two distinct but related meanings as a mythical figure and as a holiday Personification. However, such dances are performed every Mayday around the permanent Maypole at Offenham, in Worcestershire. Offenham is a village and civil parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, England, located about three miles east of Evesham, in the Worcestershire (ˈwʊstəʃə abbreviated Worcs) is a county located in the West Midlands region of central England. Temporary Maypoles are usually erected on village greens and events are often supervised by local Morris dancing groups. A village green is a common open area which is a part of a settlement A morris dance is a form of English Folk dance usually accompanied by music
A somewhat different Mayday Maypole tradition existed in some regions, which was the carrying of smaller, highly decorated sticks, with hoops or cross-sticks or swags attached, covered with flowers, greenery or artificial materials such as crepe paper. Children would take these hand-held poles to school on May Day morning and prizes may be awarded for the most impressive. May Day occurs on May 1 and refers to any of several Public holidays In many countries May Day is synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour This tradition is known as garlanding and was a central feature of Mayday celebrations in central and southern England until the mid-19th century when it began to be replaced by formally organised school-centred celebrations. It still occurs from place to place but is invariably a reinstatement of a local custom that had lapsed decades earlier.
In 1780 Kilmarnock Council, now in East Ayrshire, paid Robert Fraser 2s. Kilmarnock (Cill Meàrnaig locally known as Killie) is a large Burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland, with a population of 44170 East Ayrshire ( Siorrachd Inbhir Àir an Ear in Gaelic) is one of 32 Council areas of Scotland. 6d. for dressing a Maypole, one of the last recorded examples of the rural festival of the first of May in Scotland, having been put down by Act of Parliament immediately after the Reformation in 1560. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. The Protestant Reformation was a reform movement in Europe that began in 1517 though its roots lie further back in time [3]
The tallest maypole in Britain can be found in the village of Welford-on-Avon in Warwickshire. Welford-on-Avon is a Village of around 1800 inhabitants situated some 6 km (4 miles west-south-west of the Town of Stratford-upon-Avon in the County Geography Warwickshire is bounded to the northwest by the West Midlands Metropolitan county and Staffordshire, by Leicestershire to
Czech Republic
The maypole (májka or máj) is also still popular in the Czech Republic, in country villages. The Czech Republic ( ˈt͡ʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka short form in Česko ˈt͡ʃɛskɔ also called Czechia, Villages compete to get taller maypoles than their neighbors, and during the night the youths of a village guard the maypole to keep ruffians from neighboring villages from knocking it over (while at the same time attempting forays into neighboring villages to knock over the maypoles of others).
United States
While not celebrated amongst the general public in the United States today, a Maypole Dance nearly identical to that celebrated in the United Kingdom is an important part of many Secondary or High School dances as part of a May Day celebration. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located May Day occurs on May 1 and refers to any of several Public holidays In many countries May Day is synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour Often the Maypole dance will be accompanied by other dances as part of a presentation to the public.
The early colony of Merrymount, founded by Thomas Morton, outraged its Puritan neighbours by setting up a maypole. Thomas Morton (c 1576-1647 was an early American colonist from Devon, England, a lawyer writer and social reformer famed for founding the colony of Merrymount A Puritan of 16th and 17th century England was an associate of any number of religious groups advocating for more "purity" of Worship and Doctrine,
Early American Colonies
The earliest use of the Maypole in America occurred in 1628, where William Bradford, governor of New Plymouth, wrote of an incident where a number of servants, together with the aid of an agent, broke free from their indentured service to create their own colony, setting up a maypole in the center of the settlement, and behaving in such a manner as to receive the scorn and disapproval of the nearby colonies, as well as an official officer of the king, bearing patent for the state of Massachusetts:
“Some three or four years before this there came over one, Captain Wollaston a man of fine qualities, with three or four others of some distinction, who brought with them a great many servants, with provisions and other necessaries to found a settlement. They pitched up n a place within Massachusetts, which they called after their Captain, Mount Wollaston. Among them was one, Mr. Morton, who, it seems, had some small share with them in the enterprise, either on his own account or as an agent; but he was little respected amongst them and even alighted by the servants. Having remained there some time, and not finding things answer their expectations, Captain Wollaston took the majority of the servants to Virginia, where he hired out their services, profitably to the employers. So wrote up Mr. Rasdell, one of the chief partners who was acting as their merchant, to bring another party of them to Virginia for the same purpose. With the consent of Rasdell he appointed one, Fitcher, as his deputy, to govern the remnant of the colony till one of them should return. But Morton, in the other’s absence, having more craft than honesty—he had been a kind of pettifogger of Furnival’s Inn—watched his opportunity when rations were scarce with them, got some drink and other junkets, and made them a feast, and after they were merry began to tell them he would give them good counsel. ‘You see,’ says he, ‘that many of your comrades have teen taken to Virginia; and if you stay till this Rasdell returns you too will carried off and sold as slaves with the rest. So, I would advise you to oust this Lieutenant Fitcher; and I, having a share in his settlement, will take you as partners, and you will be free form service, and we will trade, plant, and live together as equals, and support and protect one another’—and so on. This advice was easily received; so they drove out Lieutenant Fitcher and would not allow him to come amongst them, forcing him to get food and other relief from his neighbours, till he could get passage to England. They then fell into utter licentiousness, and led a dissolute and profane life. Morton became lord of misrule, and maintained, as it were, a school of Atheism. As soon as they acquired some means by trading with the Indians, they spent it in drinking wine and strong drinks to great excess,--as some reported, £10 worth in a morning. They set up a Maypole, drinking and dancing about it for several days at a time, inviting the Indian women for their consorts, dancing and frisking together like so many fairies, --or furies rather,-- to say nothing of worse practices. It was as if they had revived the celebrated feasts of the Roman goddess Flora, or the beastly practices of the mad Bacchanalians. Morton, to show his poetry, composed sundry verses and rhymes, some tending to lasciviousness and others to the detraction and scandal of some persons, affixing them to his idle, or idol, Maypole. They changed the name of the place, and instead of calling it Mount Wollaston, they called it Merry Mount, as if the jollity would last forever. But it did not continue long, for, shortly after, Morton was sent back to England, as will appear. In the meantime that worthy gentleman, Mr. John Endicott, arrived from England, bringing over a patent under the broad seal, for the government of Massachusetts. Visiting their neighborhood, he had the Maypole cut down, and reprimanded them for their profaneness, admonishing them to improve their way of living. In consequence, others changed the name of the place again, and called it Mount Dagon!”
Symbolism
The Maypole is often considered a phallic symbol, coinciding with the worship of Germanic phallic figures such as that of Freyr. The word phallus can refer to an erect Penis, or to an object shaped like a penis "Frey" redirects here For other uses of Frey and Freyr, see Frey (disambiguation. One clear sexual reference is in John Cleland's controversial novel Fanny Hill:
- . John Cleland ( baptised 24 September 1709 &ndash 23 January 1789) was an English Novelist most famous and infamous Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, popularly known as . . and now, disengag’d from the shirt, I saw, with wonder and surprise, what? not the play-thing of a boy, not the weapon of a man, but a maypole of so enormous a standard, that had proportions been observ’d, it must have belong’d to a young giant.
Potential other meanings include symbolism relating to the Yggdrasil, a symbolic axis linking the underworld, the world of the living, the heavens and numerous other realms. In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil ( Old Norse Yggdrasill, ˈyɡˌdrasilː the extra -l is a Nominative case marker is the World The axis mundi (also cosmic axis, world axis, world pillar and center of the world) is a ubiquitous symbol that crosses human cultures In the study of Mythology and Religion, the underworld (gr κάτω κόσμος) is a generic term approximately equivalent to the lay term Afterlife Midgard (an Anglicized form of Old Norse Miðgarðr) is an old Germanic name for our World, the places inhabited by humans, Heaven may refer to the physical heavens the sky or the seemingly endless expanse of the Universe beyond Also likely related, reverence for sacred trees can be found in surviving accounts of Germanic tribes, for example, Thor's Oak, Adam of Bremen's account of Sacred groves and the Irminsul. Thor's Oak was an ancient tree sacred to the Germanic tribe of the Chatti, ancestors of the Hessians and one of the most important sacred sites of the Pagan Adam of Bremen (also Adam Bremensis) was one of the most important German Medieval Chroniclers He lived and worked in the second half of the A major event leading to the eventual formation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, took place in what is commonly referred to within the Church as The An Irminsul ( Old Saxon, probably "great/mighty pillar" or "arising pillar" was a kind of Pillar which is attested as playing an important role
The present day tradition of maypoles coincides geographically with the area of influence of the Germanic mythos.
The assertion of phallic symbolism in relation to Maypoles reflects its current semiotic values: celebration, community, youthfulness and the arrival of summer.
Modern popular culture
- A maypole was featured in Men Without Hats' music video for the song "The Safety Dance". Men Without Hats are a pop group from Montreal, Quebec that achieved their greatest popularity in the early to mid 1980s. " The Safety Dance " was the biggest-selling single by the 1980s Synth pop group Men Without Hats, written by frontman Ivan Doroschuk.
- The 1973 British film The Wicker Man features a musical scene with boys dancing around a maypole while singing a pagan song. The scene is continued in a classroom where an all girl class is taught the phallic symbolism of the maypole.
References
- ^ a b c d Ronald Hutton (2001). The Stations of the Sun. : A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford University Press, 235–236. ISBN 0192854488.
- ^ (1967) "Maypole in the Strand", in Harvey, Paul and Dorothy Eagle: The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 528–529.
- ^ Paterson, James (1863–1866). History of the Counties of Ayr and Wigton. Edinburgh: J. Stillie, 394–395.
See also
- Maypole dance
- Mount Wollaston
- Petrosomatoglyph - Maypole and standing stone symbolism. Maypole dancing is a form of Folk dance from Western Europe, especially England, Sweden and Germany, with two distinctive traditions A petrosomatoglyph is an image of parts of a human or animal body incised in rock
External links
- Photos of a traditional installation of a Maypole in a Bavarian village.
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