The Queen of the May

1 May

Still kept

In the old May games the fairest girl of the village was crowned Queen of the May. Chambers notes that she did not join the dancing but sat in state in a bower of flowers beside the maypole, half covered in flowers herself, to be admired by the whole village, and he thought her a relic of the goddess Flora. By his day the crowning was even longer gone than the maypole, and all that was left was children in a few outlying places carrying a finely dressed doll they called the Lady of the May, with little maypoles, to beg halfpence for sweets. May Queens were later revived and are crowned in many places.

She was placed in a sort of bower or arbour, near the May-pole, there to sit in pretty state, an object of admiration to the whole village.

From Chambers's Book of Days, vol. 1, pp. 572-573. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

The snail on the slate Lore and belief StirlingshireRobert Kier's letter from Falkirk said that in Scotland no one would marry in May.
O’Donoghue’s white horse Lore and belief MunsterFrom Crofton Croker's Fairy Legends of the South of Ireland, Hone gives the belief that at first light on May morning the princely O'Donoghue rides his white horse over the waters of Killarney.
Washing in the May dew on Arthur’s Seat Still kept MidlothianChambers found that almost the only May Day habit left in his day was for young women to go out early and wash their faces in the dew, which was held to make them fair.
The milkmaids’ garland No longer kept LondonOn May Day the London milkmaids went round their customers' houses in their best clothes, dancing to a fiddle or pipe and tabor for the annual present.
The Cadi and the May garland No longer kept WalesA correspondent told Hone that labouring people in Wales still kept the May dance, and for a fortnight beforehand the talk of the village was who would dance, who would carry the garland and who would be the Cadi.
The Hitchin Mayers No longer kept HertfordshireA letter from Hitchin in 1823 told Hone how, soon after three on May morning, townspeople and labourers paraded the streets singing the Mayers' Song and fixed large branches of may to the doors of nearly every respectable house.
No fire given out on May Day Lore and belief IrelandCamden, writing of the manners of the Irish, said they counted any woman who came to fetch fire on May Day a witch.
The battle on Rochester bridge No longer kept KentIreland's Views of the Medway tells of a yearly May Day fight on Rochester bridge between the boys of Frindsbury and the boys of the neighbouring town of Strood.
The Queen of May and the Queen of Winter No longer kept Isle of ManWaldron wrote that in almost every large parish of the Isle of Man May was ushered in with a mock battle.
May gads on Maypole Hill at Horncastle No longer kept LincolnshireStukeley recorded in 1724 that there was a Maypole Hill near Horncastle in Lincolnshire.
Guarding the bedwen No longer kept WalesIn Wales the maypole was called the bedwen, the word for a birch tree, because Owen's Welsh dictionary says it was always made of birch.
The Headington garlands No longer kept OxfordshireL.
Rise up, maidens No longer kept NorthumberlandBrand was more than once woken early on May morning in Newcastle by a woman singing in the streets with several garlands in her hands, which he believed she sold to anyone who would buy.
Whitethorn over the door against witches Lore and belief EnglandReginald Scot, in his Discovery of Witchcraft, recorded that people hung in their entries, among other things, hawthorn gathered on May Day to keep witches away.
A dish of cream for the hawthorn No longer kept SuffolkIn most Suffolk farmhouses it was an old custom that any servant who could bring in a branch of hawthorn in full blossom on the first of May earned a dish of cream for breakfast.
Driving the cattle through the May fires No longer kept Connacht, MunsterGeneral Vallancey wrote in 1772 that in Munster and Connaught the poorest cottager who owned a cow and a wisp of straw still drove his cattle through fire on the first of May, to keep them free of disease for the year.
Stir-about for the first day of summer No longer kept LeinsterSir Henry Piers wrote in 1682 that the Irish of Westmeath counted May Day the first day of summer and always had one formal dish at their meal that day, stir-about or hasty pudding, flour and milk boiled thick.
First across the Barvas river Lore and belief Outer HebridesMartin Martin found that the people of Barvas in Lewis sent a man across the Barvas river very early every first of May.
The Dragon Hole on Kinnoull Hill No longer kept PerthshireHigh in a steep rock on the face of Kinnoull Hill above Perth was a cave, very hard and dangerous to reach, called the Dragon Hole.
Pennant’s Beltein in the Highlands No longer kept HighlandsPennant found that on the first of May the herdsmen of every Highland village held their Beltein.
Sycamore boughs at the Cornish door No longer kept CornwallBorlase, the historian of Cornwall, wrote that the Cornish still decked their doors and porches on the first of May with green boughs of sycamore and hawthorn.
Fishing for the ring in the May syllabub No longer kept NorthumberlandHutchinson's History of Northumberland describes a syllabub made for the May feast from milk warm from the cow, sweet cakes and wine.
The poor May Lady at Cambridge No longer kept CambridgeshireAt Cambridge on May Day children dressed up a doll in a grotesque fashion and called it the May Lady.
May branches at Eton No longer kept BuckinghamshireA manuscript account of Eton School in 1560 says that on the day of St Philip and St James, 1 May, the boys who wished might rise at four o'clock, if the weather was fair and the master allowed it, to gather May branches, provided they could do it without wetting their feet.
Cows’ horns on May night at Oxford No longer kept OxfordshireAubrey noted that the boys of Oxford blew cows' horns and hollow canes all through the night before May Day.
The Magdalen tower on May morning Still kept OxfordshireOn May Day the choristers of Magdalen College gathered at the top of the college tower to usher in the spring.
The Raine’s school bride No longer kept LondonA correspondent told Hone that every May Day a girl from Raine's charity school at St George in the East, near London, was chosen to be married.
The Maidens’ Portion at Sutton Coldfield No longer kept WarwickshireJohn Herman, the Sutton-born Bishop of Exeter under Henry VIII (better known as Bishop Vesey), did much for his native town, and left money whose interest was to be shared every year among four poor maidens of good character, born or long living in Sutton, who had married in the past year.
The whalers’ May garland No longer keptThe ship's surgeon of the Neptune of London described to Hone how the whalers of the Greenland and Davis Strait fishery kept May Day at sea.
May goslings at Skipton No longer kept YorkshireAt Skipton in Craven the children kept May Day as a second April Fools' Day, making their companions May goslings, or geese.
Cheese rolling at Randwick Still kept GloucestershireC.
May Day at Lynn No longer kept NorfolkA correspondent told Hone that at Lynn the children raced to be first up on May morning, and those out early sometimes nailed up the doors of sleepy friends through the latch.
Beltane fair at Peebles Still kept PeeblesshireRobert Kier of Falkirk wrote that in Scotland the first day of May was once called Beltane, a season of boisterous mirth, and that the town of Peebles still held a fair called the Beltane fair.
The printers’ May feast at Stationers’ Hall No longer kept LondonRandle Holme wrote in 1688 that the journeymen printers, with the letter founders and ink makers, held a general feast every year at Stationers' Hall on or about May Day, paid for by half a crown from each guest.
Dining with Duke Humphrey No longer kept LondonIn old St Paul's stood the tomb of Sir John Beauchamp, which the ignorant called the tomb of Humphrey, the good Duke of Gloucester, though he lay at St Albans.
The master sweeps’ May-day dinner No longer kept LondonOn 1 May 1826 the new United Society of Master Chimney Sweepers gave its apprentices a dinner at the Eyre Arms in St John's Wood instead of letting them go about the streets for money, and handbills warned householders not to give to the sweeps' May-day collections.
The Kingsthorpe garlands at Northampton No longer kept NorthamptonshireA Northampton correspondent told Hone in 1826 that on May morning girls from Kingsthorpe and the other villages round came into the town carrying May garlands from house to house, to show, as the townspeople said, what flowers were in season, and were given a trifle at each door.
The liars’ contest at Temple Sowerby No longer kept WestmorlandAt Temple Sowerby in Westmorland, time out of mind, people gathered on the green on May Day to hold a contest in the noble art of lying.
Birch for a sweetheart, alder for a scold No longer kept CheshireIn Cheshire young men used to put birch boughs over their sweethearts' doors on May Day, and marked the house of a scold with an alder bough.
The Finglas maypole No longer kept LeinsterA Dublin correspondent told Hone that Finglas, a village two or three miles out on the great northern road, was the only place near the city where May Day was still kept in the old style.
The Dublin May bush No longer kept LeinsterOn May morning young men and boys of Dublin went a few miles out of town to cut a May bush, a whitethorn four or five feet high, and planted it in the middle of their street.
The Paddington May-dance No longer kept London, MiddlesexHone remembered Jack-o'-the-Greens, figures dressed out in ribbons and flowers from the village May games, coming into the London suburbs to dance.
Dr Parr’s maypole at Hatton No longer kept WarwickshireSamuel Parr, the great Greek scholar and parson of Hatton near Warwick, was a keen patron of the May games.
Robin Hood and the Abbot of Unreason No longer kept Midlothian, ScotlandIn Scotland the Robin Hood games were played with great spirit, above all at Edinburgh, together with the burlesque of the Abbot of Unreason and a Queen of May.
The Debden May garland No longer kept EssexOn May morning little girls in the parish of Debden went from house to house with garlands of different sizes, the large ones with a doll dressed in white in the middle, singing a carol that began with rambling all the night.
The Strand maypole No longer kept LondonParliament ordered every maypole in England and Wales taken down in 1644.
The great shaft of Cornhill No longer kept LondonSt Andrew Undershaft takes its name from the great maypole that was set up every May morning in the street outside its south door, taller than the church steeple.
The May mummers of Ireland No longer kept MunsterHone quotes the Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, just published, on the Irish mummers, whose proper festival was May Day.
May Fair in Piccadilly No longer kept LondonThe fair that gave Mayfair its name was held near Piccadilly through the month of May.
May music at Penzance No longer kept CornwallA Penzance man told Hone that on May Eve young men and women sat up at a public house until midnight, then went round the town with fiddles and drums calling out the rest of their party.
Henry VIII goes a-Maying on Shooter’s Hill No longer kept Kent, LondonStow wrote that on May morning every Londoner who could walked out into the meadows and woods to enjoy the flowers and the birdsong.
Mrs Montagu’s dinner for the sweeps No longer kept LondonEvery May Day Elizabeth Montagu, the bluestocking hostess, gave a dinner for the chimney sweeps of London at her house in Portman Square.
The sweeps’ garland and Jack-in-the-green Still kept LondonMay Day was the great festival of London's chimney sweeps.

The Queen of the May

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