The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-05-01

| pastime, all the day long. and towarc
the evening they had stagcplales anc
bone fires in the streets.
Raising of May Pole,
The leading feature in the olden time
was the raising of the May pole, which
was very generally a hugo affair, much
larger, in fact than any of the modern
telegraph posts. 1t was In most eases
the trunk and stem of a fir or poplar
tree, denuded OF the bark and rendered
| free and smooth as possible with the
carpentry and the kcenness of tools lu
those DAYS. Many of these poles were
forty TO eighty feet in height, There
| is on record the history Of n May
pole set up in a London suburb which
was $50 feet in height. lt required
yokes Of from twenty to forty oxen to
| draw them. Holes for their foundation
were from ten to twenty feet deep, and
it took the concerted strength of loo
men to put them in place. The stem
was wreathed with spirals Of flowers
and the top was generally surmountcd
by the spreading horns Of buck. These
poles naturally lasted for q long time
therefore the ceremony of pole raising
was a very infrequent one. consequently
when it did take place it attracted vast
crowds. To this day in many parts Of
England. as well rs in Scotland and Ire
land, numbers Of these huge May poles
can still be seen after weathering sew
cral centuries, still in n good state of
preservation, mute reminders TO the
traveller of past aboundin~ in simple
joys and that care-freo ghtheariedness
which characteri8cs the bygone time,
A May pole raising is thus described
by an old English writer: "They have
tweutie or fourtio yoke Of oxen, every
ono having n sweet nosegaie of flowers
placed on the tippe of his hornes, aud
these oxen drawe homo this Maze pole,
which is covered all over with flowers
and herbes, bounde rounde aboutc with
strynpes from the top TO the bOttome,
and somctyme painted with variable
colors; with two or three hundred men,
women and children following 1T with
great devotion. And this being reared
up, with hsndkcrchiefs and hagges
streaminge on the toppe. thei strawe
the grounde aboute. binde greene
boughes about it, sett up summer
houses, bowers and arbors hard by IT.,
And then fall their to banquet and
fest, 10 leape and daunce aboute 1T. y
During the protectorate of Cromwell
celebrations and festivities were rigid
" prohibited on the 1st of May. The
Puritans frowned upon the day, and
carried their preiudices against 1T to
this side of the Atlantic.
Ireland Always Observes Day.
In Ireland the day has been cele
brated from the very earliest times, and
in that country was not only associated
with flowers and rejoicing but with
bonfires. The eve preceding the day
was called Beltane eve, name
traccable to the pagan god Baal, who
was worshipped by fire. On this even
ing bonires were kindled on every hill,
until the whole country seemed az if in
81 confederation This nractipe is kent
Up even to this day. The bonfire in
Ireland has always been 4 characteristic
OF certain ceremonial rites of the peo-
pie. It will be remembered that Patrick
had the temerity TO kindle fire of his
own on the Royal Hill of Tara, In di-
rect defiance OF the order of the pagan
king, and it was this fire which led to
the lighting up of the island with the
truth OF Christianity.
On May ewes in Ireland they still
strew May flowers (yellow gilgowns)