May Day Customs: Maypole Dance

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Y Fedwin, neu y Ganghen Hâf: The Manifestation, wishing the Summer Song [Maypole Dance]

England, Wales: Scandinavia, Germany, Russia: Each dancer holds the end of a colored ribbon attached to the top of a long pole in the ground. The dancers move & the ribbons intertwine around the pole to form a design. A May Queen for the day is elected. She is selected for her beauty. In Britain she reinacts the marriage between the May Queen Goddess Cordelia, daughter of the sea god Lyr, & the May King Hâfgan: Summer Song, also known as Jack in the Green, the Green Man. Summer, a man in white smock decorated with garlands of flowers, ribbons, willow-wand wreathed with spring flowers & tied with ribbons, battles Winter, man dressed in fur cap, coat trimmed with fur, blackthorn stick. Summer wins; selecting the May King. (1, 4)

Ta’n lorg Yoaldyn cowrey jeh’n undin billey dy hraa. Ta ny fraueyn echey goll gys Niau raad ta’n foawr rioee cummal, as gys y voayl raad ta’n ard-nieu mooar, as fo ny fraueyn echey ta’n ynnyd ny merriu. (9)

The Maypole is an emblem of the foundation of the tree of time. Its roots go to heaven where the frost giant dwells, & to the place where the great serpent is & under its roots is the place of the dead. (9)