Day 42. May Day.

May Day has an antiquity of over two thousand years. It was one of the eight major festivals of the Celtic calendar, marking the flourishing of life at the height of spring. The May Queen, who still leads the traditional procession today, represented the ancient Mother Goddess in all her earthly glory. The May Pole symbolised the link between heaven and earth.

Once a celebration for the entire community, the May Day celebrations in this area declined to a festival for children by the late 19^th century. Revd Harvey Bloom of Whitchurch wrote in 1906 that 'the May Pole has become a dressed-up broomstick and the May songs a nasal gabble sung entirely out-of-tune.'

Even so, May Day was as anticipated as Christmas today. The May Pole, with a crown-shaped garland decorated with tulips and daffodils, was carried by Charlie Roberts, the village sexton, at the head of the procession. The May King and May Queen were chosen by the schoolteachers.

The assembled procession went to Alscot Park where they were all given a penny and a glass of wine, and they sang the songs they'd spent ages learning:

Happy May, blithesome May,

Winter's rain has passed away,

Hip hurrah, hip hurrah, let us all sing together,

Bright springtime is here.

The procession toured the bigger houses of the local villages, and the younger children were reduced to exhausted tears at the end of proceedings. The day finished with tea  and games.

 

May Day Procession, c.1910. Charlie Roberts holds the May Pole. Joe Newland from Radbrook Cottages is first left, front row. Baker's son Percy Beavington is second left, back row.

World War One brought this all to an end. The last record of this May Day parade is 1915.

A smaller celebration was revived by the 1940s and continued intermittently until the 1970s. It was revived as an annual event in 1989 and is still held today.