Celebrate Beltane with a Maypole Dance!

The maypole dance is a spring ritual long known to Western Europeans. Usually performed on May 1, which is Beltane, or May Day, the folk custom is done around a pole garnished with flowers and ribbon to symbolize a tree. Practiced for generations in countries such as Germany and England, this tradition dates back to the dances ancient people used to do around actual trees in hopes of harvesting a large crop.

The pole was erected on the village green or common, or even a handy field—thrust into the ground either permanently or on a temporary basis—and brightly colored ribbons attached to it. Young people came and danced around the pole, each holding the end of a ribbon. As they wove in and out, men going one way and women the other, it created a sleeve of sorts—the enveloping womb of the earth—around the pole. By the time they were done, the Maypole was nearly invisible beneath a sheath of ribbons. Here’s how you can plan your own Maypole celebrations! Hold a Maypole Dance

Image of Maypole at Archer School for Girls (former Eastern Star Home) in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, by Jennifer Arrow (Creative Commons License CC BY-SA 2.2 via Flickr)