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May Day and its accompanying Maypole go back into prehistoric times. Among many early people, May represented the changing of the seasons from winter to summer. The Maypole formed from a tree was a symbol of new life, vitality, and fertility.
May Day celebrations were practiced among the ancient Europeans, Romans, Sweden, the Druids, and many other people. While each society honored the day differently, from festivals of flowers, ritualistic jousting between people representing summer and winter, dancing around the Maypole, and lighting fires, each shared in the symbolic passing of winter and arrival of summer.
To Wiccans, this day is named Beltane after various solar fire deities, both Norse and Celtic. Beltane fires were lit on this evening and people leaped through the smoke to purity themselves and to insure fertility.
Today, traditional May Day celebrations are relatively minor. Perhaps the best know observance of the holiday is the practice of dancing around the Maypole. Usually performed by school children, each dancer holds an end of a colored ribbon which is also fastened to the top of the Maypole. As they dance around the pole, the ribbons are weaved into intricate colorful patterns. |
