Show lelm g W if mf calt X 3 k I 1 K all ION A sy by ELMO SCOTT SCOT WATSON may be the melting ng pot of 0 the nations but there Is one day in the year at least when she offers striking evidence that she Is the daughter of old epland and that the dencen descendants lants T of the founders of the nation despite the infiltration of ott other ler racial strains during the centuries in which the nation was building are still till conscious of their en english Is sh ancestry that day Is the alie first of slay may to some people who live in america but who have not yet been transformed into americans by the alchemy ot of the melting pot stay may 1 means a day for protest against tile the prevailing order of things for so called radical activities for calling tor for an uprising which somehow never seems to come oft off successfully por for millions ot of americans may 1 means disorder ot of another kind the semiannual semi annual upheaval in domestic arrangements range ments and change chang ge from old f fire ire sides to new known as moving day but to millions of young americans in our schools and colleges may 1 Is a festival day a time of rejoicing and merrymaking of song and of dance and as they gaily dressed weave in and out with the long iong streamers attached to the top of a maypole pole erected on some level stretch of greensward they are perpetuating an old custom of bringing in the may which traces back in an unbroken line to the elizabethan days in merrie england in that respect may day is almost unique few if any of the holidays which we celebrate are observed in a manner so closely resembling its ita ancient observance as Is this one it la Is olef the popular customs of the long ago which persists after others lave bave long pince sance passed away the month of may Is named for idala the roman goddess of fertility willa llala was the personification of spring and w WILS thought to have every blos coming wild flower and shrub under ter ber special care and protection the romans engaged in elaborate floral games during tile the first week of may so the may alay day celebration of a later period had its roots in the rites originally offered in lionor honor of the goddess maia but it was another roman festival which brought to may day the character of the ceremonies which made it distinctive this was tile the floralla held in honor of flora the goddess of flowers when there were guy gay costumes dramatic performances and dances when christianity began to prevail over europe certain pagan customs customs were retained in a modified form and among these was the may day celebration in medieval times it became an important festival and all classes of people old and young participated in it among the russians there was waa a spring festival celebrated by the borsand boy sand girls with a choral dance called and in sweden there was also a may day celebration with a dance but for some reason the festival reached its highest development in england and we now think of it us ils a distinctively english custom early in the first morning of may the men and the maids of old england would set forth singing for the fields and the woods to gather flowering boughs wayside blossoms and any pretty fresh green things that might await them these treasures were used to may the doors of the popular houses in the village it la Is this custom which survives la in shehan the hanging ing of may baskets by the children of today however the cayere Ma yere went into the woods primarily to choose the tallest straightest hawthorne liaw thome to cut it down and with its greenness still freshly fragrant to bring it into the public nubile square there to raise it tor for the center of their long days festivity they did it with much ceremony A writer in the fifteenth century says gays they bring home with great veneration they have or bortle boake of oxen every one having a sweet no nose segale gaie of flowers tied to the tip of his horns and those oxen draw home the may poale covered all ow over with flowers and ba arbes and ad thus equipped it I 1 k ra W e F N n A rd P f A MA tl V aviv va C 12 va was with handkerchiefs and flagged streaming on the top the maypole having been raised what follows Is resented by a puritan writer thus and then fell they to banquet and feast to leape and dance about it as the heathen people did at the dedication of 0 their idols whereof this Is a perfect pattern or rather the thing itself the beloved festival called by the puritans an impious and pagan superstition was long celebrated by the rich and poor alike chaucer writes fourth goth at al the court both most and lest to fetch the flowers fresh and blome stow in his survey of london 1002 1602 says in the month of may every man except impediment would walk into the meadows and greene woods there to rejoice their spirits with the beauty and savour of sweet flowers As already indicated these maypole affairs were obnoxious to the puritans to them the revelers were only heathens heathers he athens so the may day observances ser vances were forbidden by parliament in 1611 but same into favor once more at restoration A maypole once set up might remain for many years and annually be made the focus of popular amusements the cities joined in the celebration just as eagerly as the country folk stow in his history of london mentions several maypoles May poles one of which stood at what is now st mary ilary le ie strand a crowded thoroughfare in his day it was feet high the last maypole erected in london was of cedar in lt I 1 feet high it was set up by 12 british sailors under the personal supervision of james 11 II then duke of york and lord high admiral near the site of the present church of st marys in the strand halt half a century later it was removed to wanstead park in essex where it was used by sir isaac newton as part of the support of a large telescope which had been presented the tha royal society by a french astronomer another celebrated maypole was that from which st andrews under shaft in Leaden hall street in london is supposed to have taken its name stow says that it was due to a high or long shaft or maypole higher than the steeple hence under shaft which used early in the morning of may day the greatest spring festival of merry england to be set up and set get with flowers opposite the south door of st andrews it was in the elizabethan days however that the may maj day celebration reached its highest development what had previously been a simple spontaneous celebration became one of much pomp and pageantry if you read sir walter scotts kent orth you will learn what a colorful spectacle it was enter six young men in leather jerkins follow on six young maids leading a sleek cow adorned with flowers now struts robin koban hood in lincoln green accompanied by little john will scarlet and the others of that famous outlaw band writes one historian of this festival after these walk demurely the pretty bride maidens escorting maid laid marian the queen of the may follow other attending girls comes a rumbling creaking sound the oxen osen pull the great maypole to its place ot of honor and after the may come a medley of person ages the hobby horses the dancers the jesters and the crowd ah the tha pole Is raised every one shouts the woodmen goodmen and the milkmaids dance around it the bagpipes play for their steps the jesters and the hobby horse are busy with buffoonery ribald friar tuck attracts attention now there Is a contest with the low bow a prize of laurel and ribbons Is given to the winner a crown of ivy to the second finally the morris or morrice dancers come up to perform these are an energetic talented crew A puritan writer says of them they have their hobby horses their dragons and other antiques together with their handle and thundering drummers then march this heathen company their their a dancing their bells ingling their handkerchiefs fluttering about their heads like badde men morris dancing Is a different thing from the ordinary folk dancing done by all at the may day fetes those who did the mortis morris dances were especially trained for it and were known as the morris men each ee of any pretension had its own troupe the old men took pride in teaching the youngsters tile the steps between easter baster and whitsuntide each year then on whit monday all went out about the countryside dancing and got many a piece of silver for their antics their fiddler played early in the morning to entice lern em to dance and oft off they were with green garters around the pole the morris men usually had their thel own rown fool sometimes too they had in their troupe that old time burlesque figure the man woman who by the fantasy of ills his costume and the indecency of his conduct was a constant delight to the broadminded broad minded elizabethan audience once the morris men have done their turns the people whose fete this rightly is way may dan dance ceto to their li hearts arts content men alen and girls dance prettily together doing the same steps that their fathers and mothers did before them the humblest of the village folk had a share in the days merrymaking the chimney sweeps had their own quaint dance to do may alay day Is the sweeps holiday they appear dressed in fantastic costumes a little legend of the sweeps dance Is that once a great lady lost her baby boy and some years later told an old sweep about her misfortune ile he replied that his sweep who was at the moment up her chimney had been a foundling and when the boy came down 81 she 16 wedo be a mark or on em and gave clothes and great cheer to all the sweeps la in the town on the next may day |