Friday 3 May 2019

Return of winter.

This is, of course, for us here in the UK, a Bank Holiday week-end.   Friend W and I were talking yesterday about the old customs associated with May Day and we wondered if they had completely died out or if some still existed in villages here and there throughout the country.   I did have a photograph, which I passed on to the farmer's family on his death, of the Maypole  on the Vicarage lawn on Mayday.   The village girls and boys were dancing round it to thread the ribbon pattern.  It was taken eighty years ago.   I lived at the time in an remote village in Lincolnshire and I don't remember Maypole being done on May Day there so it must have been already dying out.  Would it be sad if it died out altogether?  I don't know the answer to that - must we keep old customs alive?

Last year the May Bank Holiday week-end brought record temperatures and a real holiday atmosphere everywhere.   This year at present, looking out of the window, it is raining, cold and cloudy.   Tess and I walked in such conditions earlier this morning and I was (and still am) wearing my thickest woollen jumper which I had washed and put away until next year.

Today the Tour de Yorkshire comes through the region (but not through our little town) and ends in Bedale, which is around twelve miles from here.  I suppose the racing cyclists might well be pleased to have this really chilly weather rather than last year's heat wave.   As for Tess and I, we shall find jobs to do indoors with the central heating full on.

20 comments:

Rachel Phillips said...

It is not a popular Public Holiday in the UK and relatively new (1978). It is not recognised by all and is seen as a nuisance to many businesses. Few consider it a Bank Holiday weekend here where I am.

Derek Faulkner said...

When I was still at work and prior to management, Bank Holidays tended to be popular because they normally paid good overtime rates.
Some old customs are being phased out due to complaints from the PC brigade i.e. Morris dancers blacking their faces.
I wonder if they've come up with some reason why Maypole dancing is sexist, or whatever.

gz said...

We've had our Mayday holiday in Scotland...on Mayday!

We are watching the TdY on tv...and not envying your weather!!

Rachel Phillips said...

I was speaking from the point of view of an employer.

Gwil W said...

We are expecting snow at the weekend. Innsbruck is forecast to have its coldest day in the month of May since 1945.

They are blaming a depression in Finland.

Mary said...

I'm coming home across the pond tonight so will be there for the Bank Holiday - actually in Bath prior to heading down to Torquay! We've checked the weather and decided to bring warmer clothes than first planned! Leaving 86F here which is too hot!

I was a Maypole dancer in primary school - the pole was in the center of the playground and we put on a lovely show in spring. I recall also dancing at some garden fetes around town - we were really quite good and I loved it!

Better go get my woolly jumper out and stuffed into my already hefty suitcase!
Enjoy the holiday weekend Pat.
Mary -

JayCee said...

Although bright and sunny here it is quite chilly. I have retrieved one of my winter woolies to wear but have resisted the temptation to switch on the heating.

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

May Day will be celebrated, and there will be Maypole dancing and a procession, in the village of Ickwell not far from here. It's an unbroken tradition that has gone on for centuries. If you Google 'Ickwell May Day' you can see photos of the May Queens going back to 1911. There's a video of former pupils of the village school doing a complex Maypole dance under the YouTube Videos tag at the top of my blog. It's very much a village celebration though these days lots of outsiders visit too, but all the dancers and the May Queen are from Ickwell and two neighbouring villages. Their weather forecast does not look too bad for Monday.

Rachel Phillips said...

May Day traditions always have taken place on May Day before we were given a May Day bank holiday, which rarely actually falls on May Day unless it happens to be the first Monday of the month. This year it falls on the 6th May.

Sarah D. said...

The village school children dance around the maypole here starting with reception, the dances getting more complex as the ages rise. The 1st of May is always celebrated with Morris Dancing at the Cerne Giant (Dorset) Sarah D.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thank you for that information Sarah D - good to hear - wish i could see it. Thanks also to you John - talking about Ickwell - obviously celebrations are still quite widespread
Thanks to you all. At seven in the evening there is a sharp, cold wind blowing and it is raining hard.

Bovey Belle said...

Shows how with it I am this week - I'd forgotten that May Day even happened, let alone got celebrated.

We keep having different numbers of layers on - I have gone from 4 to 1 to 3 in the space of about 4 hours today!

Heather said...

It's not very warm down here either and I have various layers on hand to add or subtract as comfort demands.
I can't remember any May Day celebrations in my childhood - maybe the war halted them. However there is a village not far away where they have dancing round the Maypole each year. I think it is rather nice to keep some traditions alive.
Snuggle in a comfy chair with Tess as your 'hotty' bottle this weekend!

jinxxxygirl said...

I have heard of but never participated in a May day pole.. I think its a shame when old traditions die out.. So much has been lost.. the simple things .. the simple joys of life.. life is so complicated now.. I remember playing outside as a kid with all the cousins etc.. playing 'freeze tag' and 'red light, green light'... 'mother may i' .. but when the next generation doesn't carry it on what can you do.. Stay warm Weave.. We are warm and muggy and rainy.. uuuughhh... You know me i'd rather have your cold.. Hugs! deb

Joanne Noragon said...

I washed my winter nightshirt today, and intended to put it away for the season. Fortunately I did not also strip off my bed. I'll still have the goose on tonight.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks everyone. Sunny Saturday here but very cold and a gale blowing.

thelma said...

Well I never danced around the maypole but love the idea of festivals whatever days they fall on. All festivals stem from tradition, May Day is also called Beltane, that midtime between the spring Equinox and the summer solstice. Very rightly so at the Cerne Giant, a fertility figure if there was ever one.
Most Bank Holidays are just that a time to relax and have fun for working people, we could probably do with more of them...

Margaret Butterworth said...

In Spain they celebrate May Day on 1st May no matter what day of the week it falls on. The Spanish then take the bridging days off and give themselves a long weekend ( thus filling up all the accommodation before the poor tourists get a look in!)

Mrs Tiggywinkle said...

When I was a child in Hertfordshire in the 1970s we celebrated May Day at school with Maypole dancing and a May Queen and her attendants but my mother said that it was all new to her, it wasn't celebrated when she was a child in London in the 1940s and 1950s. It's not celebrated in schools now, as far as I know, but I think that's because they teach that Easter is all about Spring and you can't then "do" May Day because you've already done it. If you acknowledge that Easter is about Christianity then I think you can then celebrate May Day properly. x

Gwil W said...

What do you think Pat? A Lancashire lad has won the Tour de Yorkshire. Is this beyond the pale?