Did you Know?
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Did you Know?
Barwicker No. 90
June 2008
In some regions of the UK at one time it was customary for children to
take a hand-held maypole to school on May Day. These were highly
decorated sticks covered in flowers and greenery. Prizes were awarded
for the best decorated.
Traditionally it was usual for villages to hold their maypole celebrations
on May Day itself.
It is usual for the May Queen to wear a white dress symbolising purity.
Folklore tells us that at one time when the celebrations were over the
May Queen was put to death! (Thank goodness that tradition is well in
the past).
Maypole dancing is carried out in many other countries e.g. Sweden and
Germany.
In the Czech Republic there is always competition between villages to
see which can get the highest maypole. (Bet they can't beat Barwick!).
Sweden has their maypole celebrations around the mid-summer festival.
Sri Lankan children wear their national dress to dance round a moving
portable maypole.
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