May Day

Next: Saturday 1 May 2027

1 May, welcomed with dawn dancing, maypoles, garlands and hobby horses.

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The year from Monday 3 May

Monday 3 May

Mon 3 May 10:00 16:00
Custom

Holywood May Day

Sets off from The Maypole, Holywood, County Down
Mon 3 May 12:00 15:00
Custom

Laa Boaldyn at Cregneash

Cregneash Folk Village, Cregneash, Isle of Man

Mon 3 May from 13:30
Custom

Ickwell May Day

Sets off from Ickwell Green, Bedfordshire

Saturday 8 May

Sat 8 May from 07:00
Custom

Helston Flora Day

Guildhall, Helston, Cornwall

Folklore from the old calendars

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.
A health to the May-pole garlands No longer kept EnglandOnce the May-pole was set up, the company drank to the garlands of flowers hung round it and to the girls whose hands had made them.
A month before Clamme the cuckoo sings Lore and belief MontgomeryshireIn Montgomeryshire it was said that if the cuckoo sang a month before Clamme, the Welsh Calan Mai or May Day, the hay would be so heavy that the farmer would sing for joy a month before August.
A show of ladies in Hyde Park on May Day No longer kept LondonThe London season was reckoned to begin on the first of May, when fashionable society crowded into Hyde Park, the Mall and Spring Garden.
All friends round the Wrekin No longer kept ShropshirePeople from round Wellington in Shropshire used to climb the Wrekin on the Sunday after May Day, and on the three Sundays following, to drink a health to all friends round the Wrekin.
Beltane at Callander No longer kept PerthshireA correspondent sent Hone Jamieson's account of Beltane, kept in Scotland on Old May Day.
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.
Betwixt two Beltein fires Lore and belief Highlands, Inner Hebrides, Inverness-shireA Highland saying held that someone caught between two cunning people was betwixt two Beltein fires.
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.
Cattle in the neighbour’s corn on May Eve Lore and belief IrelandA sixteenth-century manuscript says the Irish drove their cattle into a neighbour's corn on May Eve, most often an English settler's.
Cattle onto Burgh Marsh at Old May Day No longer kept CumberlandThe cattle and horses of Burgh by Sands went onto the great marsh by the Solway at Old May Day.
Cheese rolling at Randwick Still kept GloucestershireC.
Circles round the sun at Broad Chalke Lore and belief WiltshireOn May Day 1647 rainbow-coloured circles were seen round the sun over Broad Chalke in Wiltshire, from about eleven o'clock until noon.
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.
Cowslip Day No longer kept EnglandThe Year Book's naturalist's calendar for 26 April noted that the day was called cowslip day, when the cowslip, or paigle, was flowering in abundance.
Dancing sunwise round the Moray Beltein No longer kept MorayOn the first of May the herdsmen of several farms in Moray gathered dry wood, lit it and danced three times sunwise round the pile.
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.
Dipping Day in Cornwall No longer kept CornwallIn Cornwall May Day was Dipping Day, when boys armed with buckets, cans and syringes soaked anyone they met.
Downy Well and Downy Hill in May No longer kept KincardineshireIn May townsfolk came out from Aberdeen to drink at Downy Well on the Bay of Nigg, then crossed a narrow neck called the Brigg of ae Hair to Downy Hill, a green islet where young people cut their sweethearts' names in the turf.
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.
Dray horses in ribbons on May Day No longer kept YorkshireOn May Day the Midland Railway's Sheffield dray horses paraded at the Wicker goods station with ribbons in their manes and tails and polished brass, and prizes went to the best-groomed.
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.
Evil spirits revelling in the churches Lore and belief WalesWithin living memory it was believed in Wales that evil spirits were let loose on May Day Eve, St John's Eve and All Hallows' Eve and held high revelry inside the churches.
Fetching the elm on May Eve in Cornwall No longer kept CornwallBorlase wrote that the Cornish people of the towns went out into the country on May Eve and cut down a tall elm, which they brought back with rejoicing.
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.
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.
Gadding to the woods against May No longer kept EnglandOn the night before May Day young men and maids, and old men and wives with them, went out to the woods, groves, hills and mountains and stayed there all night.
Gerard the Giant’s staff No longer kept LondonIn the high hall of an old inn in Basing Lane, called Gerard's Hall, stood a great fir pole reaching to the roof, with a ladder of the same length beside it.
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.
Hawthorns from Woodstock Park No longer kept OxfordshireEvery May Eve the people of Woodstock went into the park and carried off a number of hawthorn trees to set before their doors.
Heavy cake Sunday at Penzance No longer kept CornwallOn the first Sunday after May Day families from Penzance went out together to Rose Hill, Poltair and other villages near by.
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.
Horns and music to the May woods No longer kept EnglandYoung people of both sexes got up a little after midnight on May Day and walked to a nearby wood with music and the blowing of horns.
Horns on Old May Day at Cambridge No longer kept CambridgeshireDr E.
Horses for the Kings of Cologne on May Day No longer kept BerkshireOn May Day 1499 the parish of St Laurence in Reading paid for fodder for the horses of the Kings of Cologne, the three Wise Men of its King play.
Lambs weaned at Philip and Jacob No longer kept Essex, SuffolkIn Essex and Suffolk the lambs were taken from the ewes on the feast of St Philip and St James, 1 May, by farmers who wanted to milk them.
Latimer gives place to Robin Hood No longer kept EnglandWhen Bishop Latimer came to preach in a country town on a holiday, he found the church locked because the parish had gone out to gather for Robin Hood.
Llantwit’s Anwyl Day and the pirate O’Neil No longer kept GlamorganOn 3 May Llantwit Major kept Llantwit's Anwyl, its darling or pet day, in memory of the capture of an Irish pirate named O'Neil.
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.
May branches at the doors in Thaxted No longer kept EssexOn May morning the girls of Thaxted went round waving branches before the doors of the townspeople.
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.
May Fair in Piccadilly No longer kept LondonThe fair that gave Mayfair its name was held near Piccadilly through the month of May.
May gads on Maypole Hill at Horncastle No longer kept LincolnshireStukeley recorded in 1724 that there was a Maypole Hill near Horncastle in Lincolnshire.
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.
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.
May-day garlands at Sevenoaks No longer kept KentThe children of Sevenoaks carried May boughs and garlands from door to door, calling "May-day, garland-day!" for a few pence.
May, the unlucky month to marry Lore and belief EnglandCouples avoided marrying in May, a month long held unlucky for weddings.
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.
My lord and my lady at Baldock No longer kept HertfordshireOn May morning the poor women of Baldock dressed up straw and rag effigies of a lord and lady in their husbands' and their own Sunday clothes and sat them side by side outside the cottage door.
Nettles on May Eve in the south of Ireland No longer kept MunsterOn May Eve schoolboys in the south of Ireland thought themselves free to run wild with bunches of nettles, stinging the faces and hands of their companions and anyone else they dared.

Monday 3 May

Holywood May Day

Laa Boaldyn at Cregneash

Ickwell May Day

Saturday 8 May

Helston Flora Day

Folklore from the old calendars

Image credits