Ryedale Folk Museum leads visitors on a merry May Day dance with special event
Ryedale Folk Museum is looking forward to sharing traditional May Day festivities on the coming Bank Holiday Monday, including dancing around the museum’s new maypole throughout the afternoon.
Marking the arrival of summer, May Day has traditionally been an important day in the folk calendar.
Maypoles have stood at the heart of May Day celebrations since at least the 14th Century, and the museum team can’t wait to lead visitors on a merry dance once again this year.
Rosie Barrett, Events Co-ordinator at Ryedale Folk Museum, at Hutton-le-Hole, said: “May Day traditions are deeply rooted in our cultural heritage.
"We’ll be leading dancing all afternoon – and we’re really hoping that museum visitors will get involved.
“It’s definitely not just a spectator sport.”
Traditionally, communities would also mark the arrival of summer by parading and crowning a May Queen.
“As well as the dancing, we’ll be making May crowns fit for a May King or May Queen on Monday at the museum,” added Rosie.
“Traditionally, villagers would decorate their public spaces with May garlands too.”
But there’s one tradition that has been unfortunately lost.
Until the 1750s, the garlands would have always been dominated by hawthorn flowers, known as ‘May blossom’.
“This beautiful symbol of the promise of summer stopped appearing after 1752,” said Rosie.
“The hawthorn was a peculiar victim of a historic change that happened when the Julian Calendar was dropped in favour of the Gregorian Calendar, following the example of other European countries.
"Along the way, 11 days were lost from the year – and this meant that hawthorn isn’t in bloom for the start of the month.”
This year's celebration holds special significance for the museum, however, as it marks the first opportunity to use the newly acquired maypole, which arrived last season but too late for the previous May Day festivities.
This year’s event is extra special, marking the first use of the museum’s new maypole, which arrived too late for last year’s celebration.
Visitors are encouraged to bring a picnic and relax across the museum’s six-acre site.
May Day festivities are included with standard museum admission.
Visit www.ryedalefolkmuseum.co.uk for more.