Looking for maypoles

Now we are two days into the month of may, and I haven't seen any maypole yet anywhere. You may remember (you may, ha, ha, ha, that is one bad pun) that I have been looking for them since at least 2016. Because I am interested in folklore and I love when old traditions are still in practice. But sadly, they are nowhere to be seen, except in books about folklore and traditions. So like every year, I will keep looking for maypoles, hopefully I can find one nearby, take afew snapshots and share it on the this blog. If you live in England and know of a place where they display maypoles, especially if it is in the South, round Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, please let me know in the comments section.

May Day (and Maypoles)

Today is May Day, so happy May Day everyone. Here it has to be a happy one from the start: it is a bank holiday. It also a time for Maypoles, but I have never seen any in real life. Even though I have been living about 20 years in this country. All the same, here is one from a picture in Charlie Brown's Fourth Book of Questions and Answers. Snoopy and Woodstock are very cute, as always.

May Day, Maypole and Snoopy

 Today is May Day. And what better way to celebrate it than with a Maypole, albeit a virtual one (and a drawn one at that) and of course Snoopy and the Peanut gang. I got this image from Charlie Brown's Fourth Book of Questions and Answers. They have a short entry on May Day, giving little info, but the sweetest image to go with it. You just can't go wrong with a cheerful Snoopy.

Whatever happened to the maypoles?

Today is the last day of May. How time flies and how was your month? Mine was good, but in one aspect disappointing. You remember me blogging at the beginning of the month about maypoles, this folkloric fertility symbol that used to be fairly common in the UK. I said then that I wanted to see them and my objective for May 2019 was to search for them and find them. Turns out, if there are any nearby, they escaped my attention. Maybe I did not look hard enough, but they seem very elusive. Whatever happened to them?

The search for the maypoles

Today is the first of May. Not my favourite, but it has its moments. I have decided to get busy this month in one personal quest. Back in May 2016, I was wondering where the maypoles were. Maypoles are this very English/very British folkloric traditional objects, remnants of pagan times. One of these artifacts that fascinate me. Well, I will look for them this month, try to find the nearest ones and see them, and hopefully will blog about maypoles some more, if I am successful.

Where are the maypoles?

Well, that's what I'm wondering. I have been living in England on and off since 1999 and I have never ever seen a maypole in the flesh, so to speak. During the London Olympics opening ceremony, yes, and on television sometimes, I have seen some of them. But not a single maypole "live," or any ceremony related to it. And I kind of like this primitive and Pagan tradition of the maypole, its symbolism of fertility and of Springtime. I wished I had seen one and taken a few pictures of it to share on this blog. But so far, I have not been lucky. But I will try my very best in the following days (!), before the month ends to find a maypole in one of English towns and villages nearby. I might get lucky. If not, then this will have to wait until next year.