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May
is the month when Gloucestershire's ancient traditions really come
to the fore.
May
Day (May 1) is greeted in the county by the revellers on May Hill,
dedicated individuals who rise at an inhuman hour to catch the sunrise.
Morris
men dance before the new dawn, a centuries-old rite kept alive by
a number of dedicated groups.
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Sunrise
over May Hill
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The
origins and traditions of May Day
Mayday
originated in pagan Europe as a festive holy day celebrating the
first spring planting and continued to be celebrated by rural communities
until much later in England, despite the disapproval of the Church.
The
ancient Celts and Saxons celebrated May 1 as Beltane or the day
of fire (Bel was the Celtic god of the sun).
It
was an evening of games and feasting celebrating the end of winter
and the return of the sun and fertility of the soil.
Torch
bearing peasants and villagers would wind their way up paths to
the top of tall hills or mountain crags and then ignite wooden wheels
which they would roll down into the fields as an offering to the
gods in the hope of a good crop in the ensuing summer.
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| Cheeserolling
races echo the ancient custom of rolling flaming wheels down
hills. |
This
tradition is echoed in the Gloucestershire tradition of cheeserolling
races that still take place in May at Cooper's Hill near Gloucester
and the cheeserolling at Randwick Wap near Stroud.
>>Read
more about cheeserolling
At
Randwick Wap, a traditional May celebration in Gloucestershire,
a colourful procession is led by a mop man who then dunks an elected
'mayor'.
Villagers
also roll cheeses around the church anti-clockwise - any cheese
left intact at the end of the rolling session is then be eaten by
those who have taken part!
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| Eric
Freeman was Jack in the Green at May Hill |
The
tradition of electing a young woman as Queen of the May to preside
over the celebrations, which still survives in some county villages,
has its origins in ancient times.
And
the Jack-in-the-Green figure who leads the celebrations (the Green
Man or Robin Goodfellow as he is sometimes known) is a throwback
to Herne, the horned god - a predecessor of the Robin Hood of English
legend.
Dancing
round the maypole is an ancient fertility rite dating in Britain
from before the Roman invasion - the pole itself is a phallic symbol
and the act of raising of the pole was as important a part of the
May Day ritual as the dancing that followed!
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| Maypole
dancing dates from ancient fertility rites - the maypole is
a phallic symbol |
The
ribbon-plaiting dance we know today where dancers (traditionally
all the single young men and women of a village) end up entwined
only began in the 19th century. Before that they used to dance in
a ring around a large pole.
Another
rural custom was for young men and women to go out on May Day Eve
to collect may (hawthorn) blossom, flowers and blackthorn blossom
- officially another celebration of the fertility of the earth but
more often an excuse for young people to indulge in earthy pursuits
of a more physical nature!
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you would like to comment about this or any other article please
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Gloucestershire
is a place steeped in history and folklore, and at no time is this
more evident than May, which sees a series of ancient rites take place
across the county.
