A Little Brit History: Happy May Day!

‘May morning on Magdalen tower’ by Holman Hunt (1890)

This is a beautiful time of the year to be in England. The skies are a stunning blue and hedgerows and trees are bursting with blossom and new greenery. It is no suprise that our ancestors chose to celebrate this. As today is the first of May I thought it would be good to take a look at some traditional May day celebrations.

The picture and film above show part of a celebration that still takes place in Oxford every May Day. In a tradition which goes back around 500 years the choristers are singing a hymn called the Hymnus Eucharisticus. Other well known traditions include dancing around the Maypole and choosing a May Queen.

The May Queen - Photo courtesy of Rob Roy on Flickr

The May day events that we see today have their roots in celebrations that are of far greater antiquity. In pre-Christian times the festival known as ‘Beltane’ was celebrated at this time of year. This was a fire festival that welcomed the coming of Summer and it’s associated fertility.

When Christianity came to this country it was faced with the hard task of converting the pagan natives to the new religion (‘pagan’ comes from the Latin ‘pagus’ meaning countryside). In many places, rather than completely discarding old ways, a sort of compromise was arrived at. Traditions which celebrated the old gods were adapted or made to co-exist with the ‘new’ Christian practices. An example of this accomodation can be seen in the names of the days of the week. Monday – Moon – day , Tuesday – Tiw’s day ( Norse God), Wednesday – Woden, Thursday – Thor, Friday – Freyja and, a hangover from Roman times ‘Saturns day’.

Church St Mary’s, Oxon – Photo Courtesy Neil on Flickr

Similarly, many Churches are built directly upon the sites of much older, pre -Christian religious sites. This Church at Bampton in Oxfordshire (above) was built upon the site of two Bronze age barrows.

In parts of the country there was a belief that certain times of the year were better than others to see ‘the little people’ – i.e. fairies and pixies, the evening of May Day being one of these times. You might imagine that such beliefs have disappeared and, mostly, they have.

However, England is justly famous for eccentric characters and they don’t come much more eccentric than ‘Circulus‘ , a folk band who are part of the ‘strange folk’ tradition. Circulus describe themselves as ‘twisted mushroom pixie rock’ and maintain a belief in pixies, having once sacked a band member who refused to share this belief. Their best known song is called ‘Power to the pixies’ but because of todays theme I thought that their rendition of ‘Summer is Icumen in’ (dating from around 1260) would be most appropriate. So, enjoy the video and once more, happy May day! – but whatever you do, watch out for those pixies tonight ?

In case you wanted to sing along, here are the original middle English words.

Sumer Is Icumen In

Svmer is icumen in

Lhude sing cuccu!

Groweþ sed and bloweþ med

and springþ þe wde nu.

Sing cuccu!

Awe bleteþ after lomb,

lhouþ after calue cu,

Bulluc sterteþ, bucke uerteþ.

Murie sing cuccu!

Cuccu, cuccu,

Wel singes þu cuccu.

ne swik þu nauer nu!

Sing cuccu nu, Sing cuccu!

Sing cuccu, Sing cuccu nu!

NB Add translation alongside the above

Summer has come in!

Loud sing cuckoo!

Grows seed and blooms mead,

And springs the woods anew.

Sing, cuckoo!

Ewe bleats after lamb,

Lows after calf the cow.

Bull starts, buck farts,

Merrily sing, cuckoo!

Cuckoo! Cuckoo!

Will sing you, cuckoo.

Nor stop you ever now.

Sing cuckoo now! Sing cuckoo!

END

PS Check out this interview featuring Circulus – it is well worth a look!

Author Info - Male 40's Solihull, England. Work as a University lecturer. Away from work write blog - Tudorstuff Usually reading 2 or 3 books at the same time, watch Rugby - Solihull Bees, sometimes Birmingham City (Football). Play Guitar, Tin Whistle & Harmonica really quite badly & Banjo (very very badly) Also take lots & lots of pictures & when I am not doing any of that I am currently trying to grow Asparagus, Spinach, cabbage, Runner beans + lots of flowers. Read more from this author