Show 0 V am ur ax lass shia iSi SOMsy by ELMO SCOTT WATSON may be the melting pot of the nations but there Is one ne day in the year at least when she offers striking evidence that she lie la I 1 S alie ti lie daughter of old england and that the descendants I 1 ot of the founders of the nation despite the infiltration filtration Jn of other racial strains during the centuries in which the nation was build but iding ln are still till conscious of their english ancestry that day Is the first of slay ilay to some people who live in america but who have not yet been transformed into americans by the alchemy of the melting pot may 1 means a day for protest agal against nt the prevailing order of thin things gs for so called radical activities for calling for an uprising which somehow never lever seems to come oft off successfully for millions of americans may I 1 means disorder of another kind the semiannual semi annual upheaval in domestic a arrangements range ments and change from om old fire sides hides to new known Us as moving day but to millions of young americans in our schools and colleges may I 1 Is a festival day a time of rejoicing and merrymaking of zong tong slid and of dance and as they gally gaily dressed bealle in and out with the long streamers attached to the top of a maypole erected on oil some level stretch of greensward they are perpetuating an old custom of bringing in the may which traces back in an unbroken line to tile the elizabethan days in merrle merrie england in that respects respect may day Is almost unique few it if any of the holidays which we celebrate are observed in a manner so closely resembling its ancient observance as Is this one it is one of the popular customs 0 of the long ago which persists after others have bave long since passed away the month of may is named for mala the roman goddess of fertility wala uala was the personification of spring and ws thought to have every blos gaming wild flower and shrub under lier her special care and protection Prot the romans engaged in elaborate floral games during the first week of may hay go 80 the may day celebration of a later ter period had its roots in the rites originally offered in honor of the godless goddess male maia but it was another roman festival which brought to may day cay the character ot of the ceremonies 11 kh made it distinctive this was tile the floralla held in honor of flora the goddess of flowers when there were gay costumes dramatic perform ances and dances when christianity began to prevail over europe certain pagan customs were retained in a form and among these was the may day celebration in medieval times time it became an important festival and all classes of people old and young participated in it among the russians there was a spring festival celebrated by the boys boya and girls with a choral dance called and in 14 sweden there was also a may day celebration with a dance but tor for some reason the festival reached its highest development in england and we now think of it as AL distinctively english custom early in the first morning of may the men find 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 tile the popular houses in the village it to Is this custom which eur survives vives in the hanging fla nging tit of may baskets by the children of today however the cayere Ma yere went into the woods primarily to choose the tallest straightest baw hawthorne thorne to cut it down and with its greenness still freshly fragrant to bring it into the public square there to raise it for the center of their long days festivity they did it with much ceremony A writer in the fifteenth century says ays they bring home with great veneration they have or bortle boake of oxen every one having a sweet no begale of flowers tied to the tip of his big horns and those oxen draw home the may poale covered all over with flowers and Xe arbes jid and thus equipped it t bior t ali I 1 tp k af af r avy C 9 I 1 I 1 0 vaz A was with handkerchiefs and flagged on the lie tape top I 1 the maypole having been rals rali ed what follows Is re resented seated 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 their idols whereof title this Is 19 a perfect pattern or rather the thing itself the beloved festival called by b v the puritans an impious and pagan superstition was long celebrated by the rich and poor alike chaucer writes fourth goth al the court both most and lost lest to fetch the flowers fresh and blome stow in his survey of london 1602 says bays in the month of may every man except impediment would walk into the meadows and gree greene U e woods wood S there to rejoice their spirits with ith the beauty and savour of sweet flowers As already indicated these it maypole ay affairs were obnoxious to the puritans to the them tile the revelers were only he athens so the slay may day observances ser vances were forbidden by parliament in 1644 but same into favor once more at restoration A maypole once set up might remain tor for many years and annually be made loads the focus of popular amusements the cities joined in the celebration just as eagerly as the country folk stow in ills his Ill history story of london mentions several maypoles May poles one of which stood at what Is now st mary le strand a crowded thoroughfare in his day it was feet high the last maypole erected in london was of cedar ll 11 feet high it was wa set up by 12 british sailors under the personal supervision of james 11 II then duke of york and lord ford high admiral near the site of the present church of 0 st matys marys in the strand naif half a century later it was removed to wanstead park in essex where it was used by sir isaac newton neaton as part of the support of a large telescope which had been presented the royal society by a french astronomer another celebrated maypole was that from which st andrews under i shaft lo in Leaden hall hidi street tn in london la Is supposed opposed to have taken its name stow says that it was due to a high or long shaft or maypole higher than the steeple be hence ace under shaft which used early in the morning of may day the greatest spring festival of merry england to be set up and set s t with flowers opposite the south door of it was in the elizabethan days however that the may day celebration reached its highest development what had previously been a simple spontaneous celebration became one of much pomp and pageantry it if you read sir walter scotts kenilworth you will learn what a colorful spectacle 0 it was enter six young men in leather jerkins jerking f ollow follow on six young maids leading a sleek cow adorned with will flowers now struts robin hood in lincoln green accompanied by little john will scarlet and the others of that famous outlaw band P writes one ona historian of this festival after these walk demurely the pretty bride maidens escorting mald maid marian the queen of the may follow other attending girls comes a rumbling creaking sound bound the oxen pull the great may pole to its place of honor and after the ilay come a medley 0 of personages the hobby horses the dancers the jesters and the crowd ah I 1 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 ate 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 bundle and thundering drummers then march this heathen company their their fc 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 hay day fetes those who did the morris dances were especially trained for it and were known as the morris men each village of any pretension had its own troupe the old men took pride in teaching the youngsters the steps between easter 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 la in tile the morning to entice em cm to dance and off they were with green garters around the pole the morris men usually had their thel own rown tool fool sometimes too they had in their troupe that old time burlesque figure the man woman who by the fantasy of ills costume and the indecency of his conduct was a constant delight to the broadminded broad minded elizabethan audience once tile the morris men have done their turns tile the people whose fet fete ethis this rightly Is may dance to their hearts content men and girls dance prettily together doing the same steps that their fathers and mothers did before them tile alie humblest of the village folk had a share in the days merrymaking the chimney clil niney sweeps had their owa own quaint dance to do may day Is the sweeps holiday they appear dressed 11 in fantastic costumes a little legend of the sweeps dance Is that once a great lady lost her baby boy and some gome years later told an all ol 01 old d sweep about her misfortune he replied that his big sweep who was at the moment up her had been a foundling and when the boy came down she edn be a mark or 8 ummat on fm em and gave clothes and great cheer to all the ibe sweeps in the town on the next may day |