“This stinckyng idoll”: the origins of some English Mayday traditions

Abstract

This paper considers some of the traditions of the May Day festival, which might have had their roots in the Celtic celebrations of Bealtaine. Many pamphleteers and puritans expressed their displeasure at the performing of the rituals including the gathering of the May, and Queen and maypole veneration, all of which are linked with fertility rituals. There are suggestions that the Mayday rituals are also linked with the Roman fertility celebration of Floralia. These celebrations also developed to include dances of milkmaids and chimney sweeps and were linked with the procession of the Jack-in-the-Green and the Lord and Lady of the Ma