May Day
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May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on May 1, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's spring equinox and midsummer solstice.
A Maypole decorated on May Day in Padstow, Cornwall
Floralia by Antonio María Reyna Manescau (1888)
Maypole dancing in the Netherlands, by Pieter Brueghel the Younger (16th century)
Maibaum in Munich, Germany
Maypole
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A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place.
May Day
…which are used to decorate buildings and made into wreaths; crowning a May Queen, sometimes with a male companion decked in greenery; setting up a Maypole, May Tree, or May Bush, around which people dance and sing; as well as parades and processions involving these. Bonfires are also a major part of the…
Dancing around the midsummer pole, in Åmmeberg, Sweden
Children dancing around a maypole in England, 1945
The planting of the Meyboom in Brussels, Belgium
Maypole, Villach Land, Carinthia, Austria