It is not a tree that has red leafs in the fall!
2006-07-26 06:34:12 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
On May first (or the first weekend thereafter) we celebrate May Day or Beltane. The men go out in the forest and find a nice sturdy youg tree and bring it back, cut off the branches (for marshmellow sticks later on) and stand it up in the field- assuming we don't already have one from last year. Everyone who comes brings a brightly colored ribbon. We attach the ribbons to the top of the pole (It is now a Maypole) and then music is played, we sing and we dance around the maypole in a sort of zigzag pattern. Much chaos and giggling ensues and we all get tangled up and in the end the ribbons are braided around the pole in a riotous pattern. It is a celebration of springtime, our first major outdoor celebration and a sort of ritual acknowledging, honoring and encouraging the unity of the community.
It was in days of old a fertility ritual, but we have no interest in being any more fertile than we already are and can't find a condom to fit the Maypole, so we focus on the community aspect instead.
2006-07-26 07:50:52 · answer #1 · answered by kaplah 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Beltane
May 1
May Day, Walpurgis Night
The God born at Yule is now a man, and the sacred marriage between God and Goddess is consumated. Beltane is a celebration of fertility, growth, love and passion. However you celebrate Beltane, do it with joy and happiness.
Traditions: Dancing around the May Pole, lighting bonfires
Correspondences: Rose, lilac, vanilla
The pole represents fertility
What About Maypoles?
The maypole was an adjunct to the festival of bringing in the May. It is a phallic symbol, and as such represented fertility to the participants in the festival. In olden days, the revelers who went into the woods would cut a tree and bring it into town, decking it with flowers and greenery and dance around it, clockwise (also called deosil, meaning "sun-wise", the direction of the sun's apparent travel across the face of the Earth) to bring fertility and good luck. The ribbons which we associate with the maypole today were a later addition.
2006-07-26 13:42:35 · answer #2 · answered by Samuella BurrowShire 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
May first is a holiday called May Day. I think it is to celebrate spring but I am not sure. A may pole is a pole that is stuck into the ground and ribbons are hung from the top of it. Everyone dances around the maypole holding onto a ribbon until the maypole is wrapped in the ribbons.
2006-07-26 13:38:29 · answer #3 · answered by lexie 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Maypoles have their origins in ancient fertility rituals. May first was called Beltane. A large pole would be erected in the centre of the village and all the eligible young women would dance around it, braiding it with ribbons. This ritual is still practiced today, but the fertility symbolism is downplayed. Basically, the Maypole is a large phallus!
2006-07-26 13:42:56 · answer #4 · answered by Celsi 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In England there are many early references to May day festivities. May bushes are first recorded in England in the 1200s, while the earliest references to maypoles in southern England start around 1350. The celebration of May reached its height in the 1500s. Young men and women went out on the public holiday of the Feast of the Apostles Philip and St. James the Less (May morning) to collect garlands to place on houses and in churches. In much of England the favourite foliage was the whitethorn or flowering hawthorn ( the 'may' of the old saying "ne'er cast a clout 'til may is out", i.e. in blossom). Processions were held to celebrate the bringing of maypoles into cities, parishes and villages, accompanied by morris dancers and performances of Robin Hood plays. Machyn goes on to describe both men and women dancing around the maypole. This custom was still taking place when he visited again in 1557. In literature Shakespeare makes reference to them as do other 16th and 17th century authors. Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream includes a line where Helena is compared to a 'painted maypole'. Popular song also included maypole references, some of which are still sung by Morris sides on May Day morning. 'Hence to maypole' is reputedly an Elizabethan maypole song and there are two traditional 17th century maypole songs that I am aware of.
2006-07-26 13:41:45 · answer #5 · answered by codge 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the maypole is an old pagan tradition done on MAY 1st. also known as mayday or beltaine. the symbol of the maypole was important in that it taught people of a village that everyone needs to work together to make a beautiful life together.
hope this helps
mournyngwolf
solitary practitioner of wicca and wizardry
2006-07-26 13:49:52 · answer #6 · answered by mournyngwolf 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's a phallic symbol. Fertility galore. You dance around it with ribbons attached to it to bind the fertility to the pole and then go off in the fields and go "a-Maying," which is to go have sex and procreate. Or that's what happens at the good Mayday parties. Or Beltane (May 1st or the night before.)
2006-07-26 20:52:53 · answer #7 · answered by SlowClap 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The may-pole is the phallus and the ribbons wrapped around it is the vaginal aspect of the fertility dance. Can still be seen in parks all over on May day.
2006-07-27 01:37:04 · answer #8 · answered by Myr 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A pole was put in the ground in the village square in May
and we dance around it
2006-07-26 13:39:26 · answer #9 · answered by Colin T 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'll take 2 points for agreeing with lexiies answering.
2006-07-26 13:40:41 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋