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May Day

The first day of the month of May is known as May Day. In Britain May day marked the end of the harsh winter months, welcomed the beginning of spring, and optimistically looked forward to the bright and productive months. For the British, largely in rural areas, it was a major annual festival and was celebrated through out the country, especially on the first of May with music, dancing and games. Traditional English May Day celebrations include Morris dancing, crowning a May Queen and dancing around a Maypole. May Day celebrations have their origins in the Roman festival of Flora, goddess of fruit and flowers, which marked the beginning of summer. It was held annually from April 28th to May 3rd.

A traditional May Day dance - Maypole Dancing

On May Day, people used to cut down young trees and stick them in the ground. 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. Maypoles were once common all over England and were kept from one year to the next. Schools would practice skipping round the pole for weeks before the final show on the village greens. The end results would be either a beautiful plaited pattern of ribbons round the pole or a tangled cat's cradle, depending on how much rehearsing had been done.

May Day in Russia

May Day in our country was synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour Day, a day of political demonstrations and celebrations organised by unions and other groups. Now it is the holiday of spring and labour.