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Next: 1 May 2027

May Day

The first of May, with the maypole, garlands and washing the face in dew, and in some places protective greenery set at the door.

The festival starts at midnight on May 1st with unaccompanied singing around the Town in particular the Golden lion Inn. In the morning, the town is dressed with greenery, flowers and flags with the centrepoint being the
Photo: Bryan Ledgard, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

About May Day

May Day customs across Europe celebrate the return of green growth. Villages raised a maypole, danced around it and chose a May Queen; in parts of Germany a tree was put up outside the house of the girl a young man admired. Bringing in branches of hawthorn or birch was believed to bring luck, though in some English places hawthorn indoors was thought unlucky. A girl who washed her face in the dew at dawn was said to gain beauty, and dew was sometimes collected for its supposed powers. In the twentieth century the date also became International Workers' Day, which changed the occasion in many countries.

Also part of it, and being written: May Day (The festival and its customs.), Maypole (The pole and the dances.), Beltane (The Gaelic equivalent.).

About this page

Written by the EveryJaadu desk with AI assistance. Background: "May Day" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family, and are described as belief and practice. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

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