a-maying. "In England, as we learn from Chaucer and
Shakespeare and other writers, it was customary during the
Middle Ages for all, both high and low — even the Court itself —
to go out on the first May morning at an early hour ' to fetch the
flowers fresh." Hawthorn branches were also gathered : these
were brought home about sunrise, with accompaniments of horn
and tabor and all possible signs of joy and merriment. The
people then proceeded to decorate the doors and windows of
their houses with the spoils. By a natural transition of ideas
they gave the hawthorn bloom the name of the ' May ' ; they
called the ceremony ' the bringing home the May ' ; they spoke
of the expedition as 'going a-Maying.'" — Chambers, Book of
Days, vol. i. p. 569. Op. Herrick's Corinna's Maying, O. T.,
cxvur. A-Maying = on Maying, the old verbal noun used in
early English after verbs of motion, as in " He went an hunting," "
He fell on sleeping."......a-Maying, enjoying the sports suitable to May. Comp. the song of Aurora, Zephyr and Flora in The Penates of Jonson — " See, see, 0 see who here is come a-maying ! " etc. To which May answers : "All this and more than I have gift of saying May vows, so you will oft come here a-maying." Also see Song on May Morning, 5. Even in ancient times there were May sports, when the Roman youth engaged in dancing and singing in honour of Flora, the goddess of fruits and flowers. Formerly throughout England the sports and customs connected with May- day were observed with the greatest zest. 'A-Maying1 = on Maying: in O.E. writers after the Norman Conquest the verbal noun with the preposition ' on ' was used after verbs of motion, e.g. ' he wente on hunting ' ; afterwards on was corrupted into a. ' Maying ' is, therefore, not a participle used aa a noun, but the verbal noun or gerund. The participle originally ended in ende or inde and the noun in wig ; but both now end in ing, and hence they are often confused......CORINNA'S MAYING. A lyric more faultless and sweet than this cannot be found in any literature.  Keeping with profound instinctive art within the limits of the key chose, Herrick has reached a perfection very rare at any period of literature in the tones of playfulness, natural description, passion, and seriousness which introduces and follow each other, like the motives in a sonata by Weber or
Beethoven, throughout this little masterpiece of ' music without
notes ' (Palgrave's note).
On the observances connected with the first of May see
Chambers's Book of Days, i. 569 ; they are a survival of the
Floralia of the Romans, who, in their turn, derived their festival
from the East, where Sun-worship was associated with similar
ceremonies. In England the festival has been shorn of much of
its glory, but in Italy the anniversary is still kept up, young
people going out at daybreak to collect boughs with which to
decorate the doors of their relatives and friends. " In England,
as we learn from Chaucer and Shakespeare and other writers, it
was customary during the Middle Ages for all, both high and
low— even the court itself — to go out on the first May morning
at an early hour ' to fetch the flowers fresh. ' Hawthorn branches
were also gathered : these were brought home about sunrise, with
accompaniments of horn and tabor and all possible signs of joy
and merriment. The people then proceeded to decorate the
doors and windows of their houses with the spoil. By a natural
transition of ideas they gave the hawthorn bloom the name of
the ' May ' ; they called the ceremony ' the bringing home the
May ' ; they spoke of the expedition as ' going a-Maying.' "

-Notes to Palgrave's Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics, Books I.-IV.Francis Turner Palgrave, John Henry Fowler, W. Earl Bell, W. Bell, 1904

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History of May Day Celebrations

Roman Traditions

First Celebrations were to honor Flora, Roman goddess of flowers. The festival lasted five days and was called festival of Floralia or Florifertum, the festival of flowers. It was held between April 28 and May 3. Milk and flowers were made offerings to the goddess. Cities and people were decorated with flowers. Floral wreath necklaces and flowers in the hair. Dances and games were organized. The celebration of the Month of May related to the goddess Mail from which the name of the month derived. Maia was the wife of Mars, mother of Mercury. May was a month dedicated to purification and honoring the dead with religious ceremonies.  May first was an especially important day in this regard.  May was a month thought to be unlucky for marriage. Processions were held consisting of people carrying trees, branches, garlands.  A May king and queen were installed and a May tree or Maypole was set up in an important place such as a town square. A seasonal concept of ensuring fertility which had roots in classical times lead to associating the day with personal indulgence and a widespread festival.

Middle Ages

Roman practices continued to a degree.  May first was associated with frolicking, revelry and open air pleasure. It became known as May Day. The festival was timed to occur immediately prior to the season of planting just before the hard work would have to begin. The festival was unlike roman celebrations more a festival of solidarity than one of the supernatural.  Offerings, ritual artifacts and acts were not considered magical.  Celebration began on the eve of the day.  Garlands and boughs of evergreen trees were fastened by young unmarried men onto windows of doors of houses of unmarried young women. The young men formed a procession to accomplish this task. Plants attached to doors conveyed messages about the person dwelling within. A thorn bush meant scorn and a mountain ash meant love.  Branches and the maypole were taken from the forests before dawn. The maypole was taken by oxen to the town square where it was set up as the center for dances and other events.

Celebrations occurred in many places in Europe.  Saxon and Celtic traditions are the best documented.  In the Celtic Calendar the season is called Beltane meaning the day of fire named after the Celtic sun god Bel Fire was associated with the start of Summer.  Bonfires were lit and wheels set on fire were rolled down hills. Cattle were driven through fires for purification. The sun's circling of the sky was symbolized by circle dances.  Peasant societies adopted Diana and Herne as fertility gods governing crops and fields. Diana became May Queen. Herne transformed into Robin Goodfellow, Green George and eventually Robin Hood Activities included dancing and masquerade. Participants dressed as Robin Hood, Maid Marion, Friar Tuck, Little John and the merry men.  Others dressed as Jack in the Green. This costume covered a young man with green branches and leaves.  Elsewhere in Europe customs involving courtship rituals and spring plants and flowers developed.

Modification of Rituals by Christianity

At first the church tried to replace the celebrations with church services but this proved unpopular. The next step was to outlaw the festivities but this had limited success with peasants continuing to celebrate into the late eighteenth century.  Animal masks and costumes like those associated with Halloween continued to be worn. Church involvement backfired and celebrations became more anti-church than they had been.  In places the festival became known as Walpurgisnacht= night of the witches with a goddess of the hunt played by a pagan priest. The church eventually took on the philosophy of "if you can't beat them join them" and began to Christianize the celebrations. This started in France where the month of may was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The May Queen represented Mary in the processions which went through villages but this time to churches as well.

Religious interventions did not discourage the linking of the day with love and fertility.  Maypoles continued as phallic symbols.  Ribbons in the hands of the maypole dancers symbolized the entwining of people. Robin Goodfellow, Jack In the Green and Robin Hood continued as anti establishment figures and what are known as "lords of Misrule"  This transformed the holiday into a day for the people when they could mock priests and nobles and other figures of authority.

Puritan Interventions

Puritan governments put forth petitions such as one in 1579 which requested a ban of "fairs, markets, bear-baits, ales, May-games, piping and dancing, hunting and all manner of unlawful gaming".  The puritans did not wish to support gatherings that might: "generate into orgies of wasteful eating, woeful drinking, rioting and wantonness and were the centers of attraction for the idle vagabonds and all lewd fellows of the beset sort"

Puritans also rebelled against the sexual aspects of the celebrations.  Puritans also objected to attacks against authority and the establishment.  All May Day celebrations were banned by Parliament in England ion1644. The holiday never recovered even though it was made legal again by Charles II in1660. Sexual aspects and role reversal remained banned.

The Victorian Influence

The Victorians took the holiday from adults and revelry and gave it to the children. Young girls dressed in white holding flowers were everywhere.  The festival became a moral lesson focusing on purity, innocence and an idyllic earlier period of "Merry England" where adventure always came with simple goodness.

The Victorians added the May Basket tradition. The holiday became associated by a basket of flowers with perfect silk ribbons held in a gloved hand of child.  Baskets were exchanged by children and were often hang them on doors. The delivery was kept secret  The maypole however made a comeback as it was now a representation of the civility which flourished in the Victorian view of earlier times.

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20th/21st Century Developments

The holiday became associated with Communist politics in the 1960s and was popular for protests of the Vietnam war but this aspect faded as the war came to a close. The end of the cold war and break up of the Soviet Union saw a subdued celebration in the former Eastern Block. Rather than military parades the holiday has become a quiet holiday for workers to rest at home with pay. In the United States the customs remain as activities such as May Queen or Mary crownings and the weaving of ribbons and maypole dancing with songs. In England communities such as Hastings, Sussex continue to celebrate with Morris Dancing at Sunrise and Jack in the Green processions which received a significant romantic revival in the 1950s and 60s. These days festivities are valued more for entertainment than participation value and are created with purposes of economic and community development which upon reflection is not all that different from the goals of the church ales of centuries earlier.

-Source:"The Evolution, Transformation And Demise of A Ritual: The Case of May Day", Mary Ann McGrath,  Contemporary Consumption Rituals: A Research Anthology, Cele Otnes, Tina M. Lowrey, 2003.

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