May Day celebrations

1. May Day celebrations Smolensk 2012 Pupil: Kuzmenkov Maxim From: 7B Teacher: Mukhina Galina Ivanovna

2. Name: A MayDayCelebrationArtist: William Powell Frith

3. History               May Day is the holiday of the first day of the month of May. But before 1752, when the calendar was changed, it was 11 days earlier. It is the time of year when warmer weather begins and flowers and trees start to blossom. It is said to be a time of love and romance. It is when people celebrate the coming of summer with lots of different customs that are expressions of joy and hope after a long winter.               May Day celebrations have their origins in the Roman fes­tival of Flora, goddess of flowers, which marked the begin­ning of summer. People decorated their houses and villages with fresh-cut flowers gathered at dawn in the belief that the vegetation spirits would bring good fortune.

4. May day in the Middle Ages May 1st was an important day in the Middle Ages. In the very early morning, young girls went into the fields and washed their faces with dew. They believed this made them very beauti­ful for a year after that. Also, on May Day the young men of each village tried to win prizes with their bows and arrows.

5.    In some places May Day celebrations begin at sunset on 30 April. They include lots of floral decorations and proces­sions through towns and villages.

6. Costumes Morris dancers wear different clothes depending on the part of the country in which they dance. They are often dressed in white with coloured baldrics (coloured belts) across their chests. Border Morris Dancers generally wear 'tatter jackets' and black their faces - probably originating as a form of disguise.

7. The Origins of Morris Dancing There are several thoughts to the origins of Morris Dancing. The name may refer to the possibility of the form of dancing coming to England from the Moors of North Africa; or it may have been called 'Moor-ish' simply because the dancers sometimes painted their faces black, and people compared this to the dark-skinned Moors.

8. Dancing around a Maypole.   May is the month for traditional dancing around the may­pole. Many English villages still have a maypole, and on May 1st, the villagers dance around it.               The original maypoles were freshly felled trees, stripped of their branches, brought into the community and adorned with garlands and ribbons. The Maypole was originally a pa­gan fertility symbol.

9. The Music The dancing is very lively and accompanied by an accordion player, a melodeon or fiddle player (Cotswolds) or a noisy band with a drum (Border Morris or North West sides)

10. Crowning a May Queen The girls put on their best summer frocks, plaited flowers in their hair and round their waists and eagerly awaited the crowning of the May Queen. The most beautiful girl was crowned with а garland of flowers. After this great event Веге was dancing, often Morris dancing, with the dancers dressed in fancy costume, usually representing characters in the Robin Hood legend. May-Day games and sports were followed by refreshments in the open.

11. Internet Sources images.yandex.ru