The Old Ways
The Maypole
It’s Beltaine time again…. And let’s clear up a little bit of semantic confusion right here at the start. The word may also be spelled Beltane, Beltain, Beltine, Bealtaine, Bealltainn, Bealtuinn, and probably in some ways I haven’t yet discovered. The word comes from Gaelic, and it’s correctly pronounced BEE-yul-TIN-yuh.
Along with Lughnasadh (Lammas), Samhain, and Imbolc, Beltaine is one of the four crossquarter sabbats, i.e., one that falls between the quarter days— the equinoxes and solstices. Beltaine is generally celebrated on May 1, although the astronomical point between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice is usually between May 5 and 7. To make this even a little more confusing, extant records suggest that the ancient Celtic Druids most likely didn’t celebrate Beltaine on a specific date or according to the night sky, but rather according to what was happening in the agricultural world. When the hawthorn— or other spring-blooming white flowered tree— bloomed, Beltaine had arrived.
Yet another name for Beltaine is May Day, a holiday always celebrated on May 1. Whatever you call it, Beltaine or May Day has always symbolized the kickoff of summer. It’s also a day strongly associated with fertility, sex, reproduction, and passion. This is the holiday where peoples past would celebrate raucously for hours (or days) and then pair off and steal into the fields, where they’d copulate as a way of insuring the earth’s fertility in the coming season. Carrying this ancient sexual allusion forward, it’s no surprise that the most recognizable modern symbol of Beltaine is the maypole. The maypole is a tall wooden pole that is erected for Beltaine celebrations. Streams of ribbon are fastened to the top of the pole, and dancers grab the ends and dance round the pole, weaving in and out in patterns that literally weave the ribbons into a pattern around the pole. The dance can be done with a group as small as 6 and as large as 24; it works best with 12 to 16 dancers. The taller the pole, the longer the ribbons, and the wider the circle inscribed; therefore, a taller pole usually benefits from a larger number of dancers.
Most serious maypoles are 12 feet or more in height, and some of the really tall ones reached 50 to 60 feet. In many cases, the young men of the village were charged with finding the ideal tree for the maypole, a task they began weeks or even months before the event. The same young men would fell the tree, prepare it, and then sink and install the pole itself. Birch was commonly used for the pole and is one of the nine sacred Celtic woods. Spruce was sometimes used, too. The act of felling the tree, of course, became a type of sacrificial ritual and was enacted with solemnity and respect.
No one is really sure how the maypole ritual was started. There are scattered references to maypoles in Iron Age literature and in some medieval writings as well. One story links it to the Feast of Flora, goddess of flowers. Flora’s feast was celebrated on April 30 to May 1 as part of traditional Rites of Spring. Young women who had reached physical maturity over the last year were chosen to dance (and sometimes to help prepare) the maypole. The day began with a dawn trip into forests and fields, where the young women picked vines and flowers to adorn their dancing costumes. The complete process became a rite of passage as well as a ritual.
The maypole dance has also been linked to old German Pagan customs, and was widely practiced throughout Europe in the Middle Ages and for a period after before being more or less quashed by the Christian church. Today, the practice of dancing the maypole is more commonly observed in Europe than in any other country.
The maypole is most commonly described as a phallic symbol, i.e., a representation of the erect penis that has been buried deeply in the (mother) earth— a clear symbol of fertility and reproduction. The idea of maypole-as-phallus also has a possible connection to Roman worship of the fertility god Priapus. There have been other attempts to explain the maypole’s symbolism. For example, the poles have been linked to the “world axis” and possibly to demonstrating reverence for trees or for the World Tree, the Yggdrasil known in Norse Pagan traditions.
While most villages construct the maypole for Beltaine, some occasionally put it up for midsummer, the summer solstice. Towns that regularly include the maypole in their festivities often leave it in place from one season to the next, allowing it to become a focal point of sorts. In some locations, young men try to steal maypoles from neighboring communities, much as college mascot-stealing used to be held in vogue.
The actual maypole ceremony was usually just one part of a community-wide revel that may have involved singing, morris dancing, parades, food and drink, and other festivities. Many towns elected a “Queen of May” to rule over the festivities; a male corollary, the “Robin Hood,” was also sometimes chosen. The actual maypole dancers were typically either children or young women and were often clad in white, giving rise again to symbols of procreation. It was typical for dancers to wear wreaths of vines and flowers in their hair, as well as adorning their outfits with colored ribbons. If the dance was completed without any ribbons coming loose from the pole or breaking during the dance, it was felt to be a sign of luck. Once the dance was done and the pole plaited with ribbons, some groups redid the dance in reverse to undo the weaving— the reasons for this are unclear.
The maypole ceremony has developed its own offshoots, too. In some European towns, young men plant miniature maypoles outside the homes of their fiancés or intended fiancés on the night before Beltaine. One version of the dance was immortalized in the film, The Wicker Man.
At the end of the day on Beltaine, with dancing done and feasting complete, most groups built a giant bonfire to keep the revelry going. “Jumping the fire” was a common pastime for the young men of the village and was supposed to reveal their virility and courage. Flowers and feasting, song and dance, parades and poles, crowns and Queens…. Just another Beltaine. May yours be merry!
Llewellyn’s 2013 Sabbats Almanac: Samhain 2012 to Mabon 2013
Susan Pesznecker
Witches Of The Craft® 