Figure 1.-- Here we see an dated May Queen procession, probably about 1905. Niote the opublic interest. It occurred in Radcliffe Bury, part of greater Manchester in the industrial Midlands. It is also marked Nlack Moss Mission. We are not sure what that means.

May Day celebrations includiung May Queens seem very common in the first half of the 20th century. We have found quite a few community celebrations, inclusing activities in and out of schools. And the May Queen seems very important part of these May Day celebrations. The image here from the 1900s decade is a good example (figure 1). The image on the previous page is a good example we think from the 1920s. Photography exploded outside the studio and there are many images in the photographic record documenting May Day celebrations of all kinds, but the May Queen is at the heart of them. School participation were an imprtant part of the celebrations, involving many children. Almost all of the photographs we have found come from this period. We have found very few school or any other May Day celebration images in the second half of the 20th century after World War II (1939-45). We are not entirely why. We suspect that the victory of the Labour Party in the 1945 General Election and the shift toward socialism was a factor. Traditiional May Day celevratiions apparently seemed dated and old-fashioned to many in post-War Britain eagerly looking forward to the future. There are towns and villages that keep the tradition alive locally and are very proud of continuing the tradition. Some date back over a century of continuous observation. The tradition itself is far more ancient, but most localities do not have a documented record of continuous observation. May Queens are, however, no longer ubiquitous as they once were. There are still May poles, but May Queens are much less common.

Sources

Frazer, James George Frazer. The Golden Bough Ch X is "Relics of Tree Worship in Modern Europe".

Created: 4:16 PM 1/12/2023
Last updated: 4:16 PM 1/12/2023