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May Day Celebrations

The first Monday of May is called 'May Day' here in the UK.

It is a traditional festival, where in olden days dancers and children used to hold a long pole decorated with streamers and ribbons, and this was called the Maypole.
Everybody would then dance around the Maypole holding the ribbons.

I know this will probably sound bizarre to anybody who hasn't heard of this before.

It was done to celebrate the beginning of May, and the coming of a warm Spring.
The dancers who used to (And still do in certain areas)dance around these poles were called 'Morris men.'They were basically Morris dancers but men.I knew one of these Morris men, I found myself trying to keep a straight face without laughing when he put on his 'Morris' outfit, (They wear brightly colored costumes, and hats)

The first Monday in May, in true accordance to tradition, is a public 'Bank holiday'--most of Britain are intitled to this day off from work-- with pay!

Most of Britain apart from a few rural areas no longer practice any of these festivities, but all over England you will find some sort of festivities at this time of the year.

The rest of the country just use it as an extra long weekend. I certainly look forward to having this Monday off!.

Celebrations Day May

When I lived in Trinidad, we celebrated MayDay with the Maypole. It was a lot of fun. I always wanted to be one of the few people dancing around the maypole but most of the time I was too little. When I was big enough to dance around the maypole, then it wasn't cool enough. Go figure!

May Day Celebrations Reviews Consumer & Travel Family Culture

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