# Do British children still dance around the maypole? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 26, 2006, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247 "2006-04-26T04:06:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![marky33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@marky33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marky33)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/1 "2006-04-26T04:06:22Z")
Do primary school children in the UK still dance around the maypole on May Day? --Is this a practice that does/has ever taken place in any other country(ies)? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/2 "2006-04-26T04:16:43Z")
My mother once told me that she did it as a child at school here in Sydney. That would have been in the 1940s. ---
**Author:** ![AHarris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@AHarris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHarris)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/3 "2006-04-26T05:12:39Z")
The city I grew up in still does (New Westminter, British Columbia, Canada) starting in 1870. [The description on the Hyack festival website.](http://www.hyack.bc.ca/festival_events.htm#may_day) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/4 "2006-04-26T07:38:52Z")
Occassionally you’ll come across it. Most often it’ll either be in a small town or village which has a big May Day celebration, or put on by groups of _shudder_ Morris dancers. If you do a Google News search for “maypole dancing”, you’ll find a few local newspapers with their “what’s on this week”-type articles. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/5 "2006-04-26T09:49:06Z")
I remember maypole dancing as a kid in the eighties - it was at a small country village school in Hampshire. Oddly enough, they never taught us about the phallic/fertility symbol aspects of the towering erection we were dancing around. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/6 "2006-04-26T10:08:30Z")
Our CofE primary school used to have maypole dancing at the summer fete, although usualyl in June rather than May - this was mis-late 80s. I think it’s been stopped in our village now after pressure from some sections of the local church - but we were not taught any pagan symbolism when we took part. ---
**Author:** ![Fridgemagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/22d042/32.png) [@Fridgemagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fridgemagnet)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/7 "2006-04-26T10:49:35Z")
More of a village fete thing yer may pole, particularly if there is a gathering of satanic [Morris Dancers](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2026567.stm). Anyone unconvinced of the intrinsic evils of such prancings should watch the excellent [Wicker Man](http://www.forteantimes.com/exclusive/wicker.shtml). ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/8 "2006-04-26T10:57:08Z")
I’ve never heard anyone doing it from where I come from. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/9 "2006-04-26T11:44:41Z")
Feh, I’m an American and I had to do this Gawd awfull thing back in the 4th or 5th grade. That was in Jenks (A suburb of Tulsa) Oklahoma. My thanks to the OP for bringing back those nightmares… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![everyone\_loves\_monkeys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9e5f3/32.png) [@everyone\_loves\_monkeys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everyone_loves_monkeys)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/10 "2006-04-26T12:09:47Z")
Yes. I did maypole dancing at infant school (early 90’s) and am used to seeing Morris and maypole dancers et al at village fetes. This is my first year both in a city and in Scotland where I have noticed the distinct lack of lambs, fetes, daffs, dancing and spring food (especially cream teas) growing up in the English countryside taught me to expect. ahhh, i think a visit to my family may be in order ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/11 "2006-04-26T12:17:41Z")
Here in Massachusetts some of the earliest (non-Puritan – the ones you _don’t_ hear about) settlers put up a Maypole at the provocatively-named Merrymount. Miles tandish headed up a company that cut it down and deported the leader: > **[Merry Mount](https://www.macthoy.org/history/merrymount2.htm)** > **[Quincy, Massachusetts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Wollaston)** > > Quincy (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}English pronunciation: /ˈkwɪn.zi/ ⓘ) is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county. Quincy is part of the Greater Boston area as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 101,636, making it the seventh-largest city... Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a story about it: [http://www.saumag.edu/edavis/AmLit/2004/Maypole.2000.html](http://www.saumag.edu/edavis/AmLit/2004/Maypole.2000.html) [http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/mmm.html](http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/mmm.html) Nowadays they revived it (this is just down the road from me): [http://www.tnw-salem.org/TNWcal.html](http://www.tnw-salem.org/TNWcal.html) ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/12 "2006-04-26T13:14:53Z")
I live just up the road from a French Immersion public school, they do this every May. They practice on the front lawn for a few days, it’s adorable to watch and they all look like they’re having fun. It’s very colourful, and hilariously muddled up but they seem to all laugh and laugh. In fact, I will be attending next Friday for the full day of events, they’ve invited the whole neighbourhood and I’m borrowing a friend’s five year old. I’m actually quite looking forward to it. Maybe I’ll get some pictures. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/13 "2006-04-26T13:20:46Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] Occassionally you’ll come across it. Most often it’ll either be in a small town or village which has a big May Day celebration, or put on by groups of _shudder_ Morris dancers. [/QUOTE] I danced around a maypole when I was a kid and I lived in a London suburb. No small town for me. And don’t knock **Morris** dancing. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/14 "2006-04-26T13:34:58Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Nowadays they revived it (this is just down the road from me): [http://www.tnw-salem.org/TNWcal.html](http://www.tnw-salem.org/TNWcal.html) [/QUOTE] They do a maypole in Amherst and Montague as well. Along with various folk and Morris dancing. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/15 "2006-04-26T14:01:33Z")
We did it here in the US, in South Carolina, as well. Of course, this was at a private school that had delusions of Scottishness, so maybe that’s why. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/16 "2006-04-26T15:45:43Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] We did it here in the US, in South Carolina, as well. Of course, this was at a private school that had delusions of Scottishness, so maybe that’s why. [/QUOTE] I am sure they would ban this practice in South Carolina if those in power realized that the maypole is a phallic symbol. Information [here](http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/focus/2004/04/mayday04.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/17 "2006-04-26T16:09:41Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] I danced around a maypole **when I was a kid** and I lived in a London suburb. No small town for me. And don’t knock **Morris** dancing. 😛 [/QUOTE] Ah, you were a Morris Minor, then? Yes, I’ll get my coat. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/18 "2006-04-26T16:39:39Z")
My Dad’s Welsh, so I was sometimes accused of being a Morris miner. ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/19 "2006-04-26T18:55:51Z")
[QUOTE=Finagle] They do a maypole in Amherst and Montague as well. Along with various folk and Morris dancing. [/QUOTE] And Rochester, at the Sweeps Folk Festival: > **[KU88 - Trang Chủ KUCASINO Mới cheappokergame.com](https://cheappokergame.com/)** > > KU88 cung cấp hơn 3.000 sự kiện thể thao mỗi ngày mang đến không gian giải trí với các bộ môn như bóng đá, bóng rổ, tennis và eSports. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-children-still-dance-around-the-maypole/354247/20 "2006-04-26T23:52:10Z")
In Hawaii, we did maypole dances, but then again this was also the day we did hula pageants. Unfortunately as the little pageants became big productions, they ceased to be on May 1st and occurred anywhere from two weeks before or after. Hence the maypole was eventually dropped.