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| Illustrations by: Zariah |
I have a favorite springtime
memory: The sun is shining on my face. I’m wearing a flowered lace dress and shiny new shoes. I stand ready. I grasp
my lavender ribbon, which is attached to a large pole, and wait for Miss Bradshaw, my teacher, to give the signal. She blows
her whistle and we begin to dance.
Twenty-five
children, each holding pastel, satin ribbons, dance around one another, weaving in and out. The rainbow of colored ribbons
forms a beautiful pattern against the maypole.
The
maypole dance has celebrated the season of growth and rebirth for centuries. When I made my way around the maypole, I was
following in the footsteps of thousands of children throughout the world who have performed the dance since civilization began.
Maypole dancing is part of traditional
May Day celebrations. Celebrated
on May 1st, May Day was a spring festival held in India and Egypt. Ovid, the first-century Roman poet, wrote about May Day parties. Romans celebrated the day in honor of Flora, the goddess of fruit
and flowers.
May Day
was introduced in England in the seventh century as a celebration of the spirit of life. The English later dedicated the day to Robin Hood, who died
on May 1st, and to Maid Marian.
Throughout
history, such countries as Sweden, Russia, Germany, Scotland,
and Ireland have celebrated May Day. While traditions vary from place to place, celebrations usually involve dancing, archery,
the crowning of a May queen, and the collection of flowers or flowering branches of trees known as bringing in the May.
The
maypole was a big part of May Day celebrations
in medieval England. Maypoles were often made of trees that were trimmed of all but the top branches, and decorated with flowers
and streamers. On May 1, 1661, a 130-foot maypole was put up in the Strand in
London. It remained there until 1710.
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| Illustrations by: Zariah |
Modern maypoles are constructed
from metal poles placed in patio umbrella stands or long wooden poles mounted on Christmas tree stands. Poles should range
from 8 feet for children to 12 feet for adults. Wide ribbons a few feet longer
than the maypole should be attached to the top of the pole. Pastels are nice for spring, but any colors ribbon can be used.
“There
are not a lot of rules,'' said Linda Berry, a member of the committee that helps organize a maypole dance for First Unitarian
Church in Louisville, Kentucky. “Dancers stand in a circle around a maypole,
holding their ribbon tight. To make it simple”, Berry said, “my church forms a circle of alternating men and women
(or boys and girls). The women move clockwise, the men counterclockwise. Dancers weave around one another, moving to the inside
and then the outside of each approaching dancer. As the dancers circle the pole, the ribbons form a pattern on the pole.
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| Illustrations by: Zariah |
The
dance celebrates the energy, joy, and honor of the new life that rises in the spring.
When the dance is over, the pole has beautiful places where the shades of pastel are intertwined and bumpy places where
dancers lost their place. It is a lot like life.”
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