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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (68713)	12/26/1999 9:25:00 PM
From: Grainne	Respond to of 108807

Maypoles are really cool! I saw a Fat Ladies episode that was filmed in a small English village, and the children were dancing around one. (They were also beautifully dressed, the girls in ironed cotton dresses and the boys in short pants, a sight seldom seen in modern America.) It is a tradition that I remember from my own childhood in southern California, but I do not think my own child was ever taught this in school. Maypoles have to do with pagan spring fertility rites, very common all over Europe. May Day, which falls on May 1, actually, is the day I chose to get married because it seemed like such a happy pagan day. I found this on the net, for anyone who is interested in finding out more about this holiday, which the Wiccans call Beltaine: <<On a more cheerful note, Maypoles are another familiar sight at Beltaine. Usually about 30-100 ft. in height, they were the embodiment of the Spirit of Vegetation, and also the symbol of the World Tree. It is also thought that the Maypole represents the first tree struck by lightning, bringing fire to humankind, as in some places such as the Netherlands the Maypole was ritually burned after the festivities along with offerings. In Wicca the Maypole also represents the God's phallus, and traditionally red and white streamers are used, red for the Lady's menstrual and/or hymen blood and white for the Lord's semen. (It should be noted that streamers are a later addition to the Maypole; originally people danced around it without the ribbons.) As the symbol of all plant life the Maypole had to be cut from a live tree each year, with a bit of green left at the top. In later years as the symbolism was forgotten the Maypole became a permanent fixture in the middle of the town square or field (and in these times of extreme deforestation it is probably more prudent to re-use the same Maypole). Cutting down the Maypole had a whole collection of attendant activities, from decorating houses, oxen, and the pole with hawthorn blooms, sycamore, and other spring flowers, to "hunting for nuts in the woods" (sex), "wearing the green" (sex), "performing greenwood marriages" (sex), and staying out all night to watch the sun come up (more sex). The energy raised in the Maypole dance went toward bringing fertility(!) to crops, women, and cattle.>> gatewest.net