The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-05-11

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her among their minor deities, of which
there were no less than $4,000. She
took her place as Goddess of Flowers,
with celebration about the first of
May, to be called Floralia, after her.
This little story may be a fable but
now | shall tell you some facts. When
| the Romans came to Britain to live,
many hundred years ago, they brought,
OF course, their own customs and festi-
walls, among which was this one in
memory of Flora. The heathen-0ur
ancestors, you know--adopted them with
delight, being in the childhood of their
race. They became very popular; and
when, some years later, good priest,
Gregory, came (from Rome also) to
convert the natives, he wisely took adj
vantage of their fondness for festivals,
and, not trying to suppress them, he
simply altered them from heather
teasts to Christian games, by substitu-
ting the names of saints and martyrs
for heather gods and goddesses. Thus
the Floralia became May-day Gel
ebration, and lost none of its populari-
ty by the change. On the contrary, it
was carried on all over England for
ages, till its origin would have been
lost but for few pains-taking old
writers, who "made notes. of every
thing.
The Floralia we care nothing for, but
the May-day games have lasted nearly
to our day, and some relics of it still
survive in our young country. When
! you crown May queen, or 90 with a
May party, you are simply following a
custom that the Romans began, and
that our remote ancestors in England
carried to such lengths that not only
ordinary people, but lords and ladies, and
even King and Queen, laid aside their
state and went a-Maying" early in
; the morning, to wash their faces in May
dew, and bring home fresh boughs and
flowers to deck the May-pole, which
reared its fowery crown in every vii
lage.
Great were the doings around the
May-pOle, for the tallest and straight
est of trees was selected. 1t was drawn
to its place by as many as thirty or
forty yoke of oxen, their horns deco
rated with flowers, followed by all the
lads and lassies of the village. The
pole was wound or painted with gay
colors, and trimmed with garlands,
bright handkerchiefs and ribbon stream
ers from top to bottom.
With great ceremonies and shouts of
joy it was lifted to its place by ropes
and pulleys, and set up firmly in the
ground; and then the people Joined
hands and danced around it. The whole
day was given up to merriment, every
one dressed in holiday clothes, doors
and windows were adorned with green
boughs and flowers, the bells rang pro-
cessions of people in grotesque dresses
were arranged, and the famous Morris
dancers performed.
In this dance the people assumed
certain characters. There was always
Robin Hood, the great hero of the rus
tics; Maid Marian, the Queen, with
gilt crown on her head; Friar Tuck; a
fool, with his fool soap and bells; and,
above all, the hobby-horse. This ami
NAL was made of pasteboard, painted
a sort of pink color, and propelled by a
man inside, who made him perform
various tricks not common to horses,
such as threading a needle and holding
ladle in his mouth for pennies.
The various characters labored to
support their parts. The friar gave
solemn advice, the Queen initiated
lady-like manners, the fool ioked and
made fun, and the horse pranced in
true horsey style.
This Morris dance is supposed to
have been brought in early times from
Spain, where the Moors danced it, and
where it still survives as the "fan-
dango."
Allthis May-day merriment came to an
endwhen our grim Puritan fathers had
power in England. Dancing around the
May-pole looked to them like heather
alteration of an idol. Parliament made
a law against it, and all the May-poles
in the island were laid in the dust. The
common people had their turn when,
a few years later, under new King,
the prohibitory law was repealed, and
new May-pole, the highest ever in
England Q34 feeD, was set up in the
Strand, London, with great pomp. But
the English people were fast outgrow-
ing the sport, and the customs have
been dying out ever since. Now, very
few May-poles in obscure villages are
all that can be found.
Though May-poles and Morris dane
ing were the most common, there were
other curious customs in different parts
of the Kingdom. In one place the
Mayors went out very early to the
woods, and, gathering green boughs,
decorated every door with one. A
house containing sweetheart had a
branch of birch, the door of a scold was
disgraced with alder, and slatternly
person had the modification to find a
branch of nut-tree at hers, while the
young people who oversight found their
doors closed by nail over the latch.
In other places wreaths were made
on hoops, with a gayly-dressed doll in
the middle of each, and carried about
by girls, the little girls singing ballad
which had been sung since the time of
Queen Bess-and expecting a shower of
pennies, of course.
But. as the years went on, these
merry games died out, and few year S
ago May-day was in London simply the
festival of chimney-sweeps and milk
maids, certainly falling off from the
times of King Henry VIII. The only
traces of the old custom of going a-May-
ing were the garlands of the milk-maids
and the Jack-in-the-green of the sweeps.