A Celebration of Spring in late April

by Joseph Jackson

The celebration of spring in late April / early May is one of the world’s universal festivals. Every culture on earth both ancient and modern, mark the coming of spring and the rebirth of life that it brings.

The Celts celebrated Beltane on the 1st of May. This involved as always, lots of eating and drinking on the last evening of April and letting the house fires that had burned all winter, go out. Then at sun rise on the 1st of May tapers of flame would be lit from a sacred fire and taken back for the houses to light the new fires. The relighting of the fire and the returning sun was a symbol of rebirth.

In Britain today, Mayday is celebrated all over the country with fairs, parades, dancing and food and drink. Some of you may remember, “Rose Fates and the May Queen” from times gone by. The origins of today’s celebrations have little to do with the Celtic festival.

The arrival of the Romans did not end the Celtic festivals but over the 367 years of Roman occupation, Beltane became diluted with the traditions not only of Rome but the many other cultures Rome brought into Britain.

Flora was the Roman Goddess of Spring; her festival was celebrated from the 28th of April until the 3rd of May and largely consisted of partying and a lot of lewd behaviour.

The most influential of the Roman festivals on today’s May Day celebrations was the Rosalia Signorum (the Festival of the Standards.) This was a Roman military festival and originated in the early days of Rome when in October soldiers’ weapons were oiled and after a religious ceremony was carried out, they were put in to storage for the winter. The Rosalia Signorum was the celebration of spring and a ceremony was held to bring the weapons out of their winter rest.

By the time the Roman Empire reached its height, this festival had altered as in October it was no longer practical to put the weapons in storage as they were now a professional standing so wooden replicas were used instead.

At the end of April, the ‘return of the weapons’ was still celebrated and the Cohorts’ military standard (The Signium) was brought out and decorated with primroses. The soldiers would then parade through the local village or town with the standard which was then placed in the village centre and women and children would dance around the ‘Pole of the Signium’.

The pre-Christian Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who settled in Britain after the Romans, then brought with them their own gods (Woden, Thunor, and many others). They also celebrated the return of spring around the end of April and early May. Their festival was known as Eostre and was associated with the Goddess Ostara. The month of April was referred to as Ostarmanoth (Easter month) in ancient German (which today we know as English).

We associate baby hares, baby chicks, and catkins with the celebration and it is easy to understand why as they also appear at this time of year. Easter is one of the movable festivals and the time it was held was calculated in accordance to the lunar calendar. In its preChristian form it was the same festival as what we now regard as May Day.

The May Pole

There are several origins for the May Pole, all of which are observed by different European cultures. The festival of the Rosalia Signorum is the earliest form of the ‘May Pole’, recorded in Britain. Later the Saxons and the Norse all acquired the May pole tradition and its symbolism may be related to the practice of bringing a Yule (Christmas) tree into the home.

Their pole was seen as a symbol of Yggdrasil, the world tree, who they believed, its branches held up the sky.

The pole was basically just a thin tree trunk stripped of its branches. It would often be decorated with garlands. The tradition of placing the pole in the same place each year such as a village green may be connected to the significance of the shadow that was cast from it each day at sun rise. This would mark the progress of the sun as the season changed into the Summer Solstice in June.

The use of ‘Eostre’ (Easter) in the Christian calendar was an expedient to adapt the newly converted northern Europeans to the new faith at that time, Christianity and allowing them to retain many but not all of their old traditions. When we look at Easter today other than the later additions of the resurrection of Christ, all of the traditions surrounding it are preChristian.

The May Queen

The May Queen dates back to the early pre-Christian roots of the festival. The Queen represents the practice of human sacrifice in Germanic traditions. The Queen would be chosen and treated literally as a Queen. She would be given fine clothes, jewellery, food and drink before being sacrificed to the gods. Due to modern health and safety guidelines this is no longer allowed!

During the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, May Day like many other festivals, was banned. This ban continued until his death and was eventually restored in 1660. The Maypole has and continues to be seen as an anti-religious symbol by some churches.

The tradition of attaching ribbons to the pole for dancing are from the 19th Century rather than being an ancient tradition.

May Day remains less associated to a particular religion and is still a universal celebration of the return of Spring.

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