Does your area do the traditional maypole dance?
Posted by oldt1mer@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 33 comments
With the early may bank holiday having passed I have found myself wondering if there are any towns in the UK that still have and use a maypole as I have realised despite knowing what one is I have never actually seen one in person.
I know there are still a lot of morris dancers out there and have groups dedicated to keeping it going and was wondering if there is something similar for the maypole
Difficult_Egg_4350@reddit
My parents live in a village in Kent that has the local primary school do a maypole dance at the Mayday fair.
I am still bitter that because I was the May Queen's attendant when I was at school I never learnt the dances everyone else did while the May Queen and I had to practice walking around the field and introducing the Mayor or some nonsense.
PolarLocalCallingSvc@reddit
No.
We are more of a ceilidh collective.
DTH2001@reddit
Maypole dancing isn’t really analogous to a ceilidh. That would be a barn dance
Charyou_Tree_19@reddit
The utter disdain dripping from this statement, I love it.
PolarLocalCallingSvc@reddit
Nah I'm all for regional folk dances, music etc.
But I would probably have to travel hundreds of miles to find a maypole up here!
RoleMysterious8756@reddit
Ours were all shot by Gregory—the village sniper.
Flying_tyke@reddit
My town has a maypole that is actually used for may day dancing, and all the local primaries have their own mini maypole too. We're traditional up 'ere (w yorkshire)
Mog_X34@reddit
There is one in a village near where I used to live - Ickwell in Bedfordshire. Just looked it up and they also have Morris dancers.
perishingtardis@reddit
Yes, and then we make an unsuspecting outsider keep his appointment with the wicker man.
TubbyLittleTeaWitch@reddit
No because I'm Scottish. We have our own traditions up here.
Isgortio@reddit
I remember my primary school let us play with the maypole and then the local community centre May Fayre would have the dance but that was 20 years ago, don't know about now.
LazyFiiish@reddit
I was in Shaftesbury this weekend watching people running wheels of cheese up Gold Hill (Hovis Hill). They had maypole dancing there, confirming that Shaftesbury is still a very old fashioned place
BillyJoeDubuluw@reddit
A village near my hometown does, yes.
There are also a number Morris Dancers and other similar “folk acts” in around the area… There’s most definitely an Easter act and there used to be a New Years Eve custom, too, but it died out years ago…
schemmenti@reddit
Only in primary school in PE.
takesthebiscuit@reddit
Wow I last morris danced about 40 years ago at school
We were getting ready for the mayday fete
Unfortunately I wasn’t chosen as one of the boys to participate but i glanced at the teachers notes:
>[takesthebiscuit] - DOESN’T SKIP
Short-Bee1550@reddit
No. Maypole dancing only really survives down south. The pagan tradition was brutally suppressed by Cromwell during the Commonwealth, and successfully stamped out in areas loyal to the Parliamentarians.
It did survive in Royalist strongholds, like the Cotswolds, although in all honesty what we have now owes more to Victorian revival by local gentry. But like Morris dancing (also a May Day tradition) it’s a bit too ridiculous to impose if there wasn’t some remnant.
OrionGrant@reddit
Man that takes me back. Used to do it in primary bloody hell!
Fantastic-Option-260@reddit
Maypoling is less popular in our area (but many schools still do have them/do them).
"Dancing up the sun" is very popular though. Most major hills around us will have a morris collective of some sort dancing on them at sunrise each May 1st.
If you want to see true madness, search online for "Padstow May Day", a Cornish town where people wander round all day taunting a mad "'obby 'orse" every may day.
IndividualCurious322@reddit
Not here, but we do Mari Lwyd.
Ilsluggo@reddit
They do one in Brixton every year. Windmill Gardens on the bank holiday. Morris dancers, live music, beer. All the essentials.
CJBill@reddit
There was one here in South Manchester last weekend
Previous_Kale_4508@reddit
My old primary school in Bolton had a maypole that was used every year; I have no idea if it's still in use. The pole would be well over a century old now.
ImmediateFigure9998@reddit
Just a regular pole dance where I’m from
Budget_Tree_2710@reddit
Maypole and jack in the green at Brixton windmill and deptford has jack in the green
a-punk-is-for-life@reddit
Yeah we have a May Queen parade in our village and maypole dancers are part of the carnival. It's always little girls, not adult morris dancers or anything
bishibashi@reddit
There’s still a parade and may fair with maypole dance just up the road, my kids did it one year. Cute but I made so many wicker man jokes my wife didn’t want them to do it again. We live in a nice bit of west London.
Neddlings55@reddit
Yes!
My village school does it. Same one i went too many decades ago and they still use the original pole.
BelledeJour71@reddit
I haven't seen one in years. It was always my favourite thing to see at fairs in the 70's and 80's. I really do miss is. I live in Hampshire, UK.
L-0-T-H-0-S@reddit
I live in North wales. The last thing a Maypole dance is here, is traditional.
Dennyisthepisslord@reddit
No but Morris dancers do a sunrise dance. There's probably more dancers than people watching at 5.40am though
Chopsticks_Charlie@reddit
What is this maypole dance you speak of?
Individual-Rope-3769@reddit
Couldn’t tell you what it is.
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