To think that it would be nice if stuff like maypole dancing were done more but that 'wokeness' is probably not the reason that it's done less now?

[Jane3212]

On Facebook today a post popped up about traditional stuff like maypole dancing that's done less now. The person who wrote the post blamed this on 'wokeness erasing English customs'.

Is 'wokeness' really the reason maypole dancing isn't done as much? I think things like that are nice but I'm not convinced 'wokeness' was the reason they've somewhat faded. Overstretched teachers & schools could be one. It's fair to note also that maypole dancing was never something my mother (born 1960s) or grandmother (born 1930s) experienced, probably as they grew up in London.

AIBU?

There are plenty of records of maple dancing, although I think it’s something that was re-introduced in a late Victorian era.

I think that’s blaming wokeness is getting a bit passé, personally.

It's less about "wokeness", whatever that has to do with it, and more that we have better entertainment options which mean you only have to dance round poles with ribbons for fun, if you want to.

And it's probably Germanic, Celtic, or Roman anyway. So...

Damn all those woke Puritans in the 17th century, banning everything pagan and lusty, like the Maypole!

Interesting- yes, I remember reading it got disrupted by the Puritans (!) and the Industrial Revolution so they probably helped revive it.

I saw maypole dancers in the very recent past dancing in full blackface, so I don’t think “wokeness” has had an impact on them at all really.

Edited to say I misread and thought this was a thread about morris dancers so ignore!

It’s probably just unfashionable now; kids would think it’s weird. It is a bit weird tbh. I loved it at school though.

Yes, it was a fertility thing partly, wasn't it?

Came here to say similar but I see you’ve already covered it!

I hated maypole and country dancing in the 60s

I would say that FB poster needed a quick lesson on social history.

Divisive shit being promoted on Facebook? I'm shocked

It’s not ‘wokeness’. English folk traditions have been ridiculed and belittled since the 1970s - folk music and morris in particular. They were seen as old fashioned and embarrassing. In fact it goes back earlier than that to the 19th century when English folk music was considered inferior to continental classical music and actively suppressed. With the exceptions of the early 20th century and 1960s folk revivals it’s always been tough to get the English to take their own traditions and culture seriously.

Ironically, the sort of people who carry on these traditions would probably themselves be condemned as ‘woke’ - they are mostly green, hippy, eco-conscious types with plenty of Neo-pagans and the like involved.

For a good history of English folk music and dance from Cecil Sharp’s work to the present I recommend ‘Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain’s Visionary Music’ by Rob Young.

Yes, I think I'd have found it fun.

It's nothing to do with wokeness, much more to do with the fact that people have other things to do now. As someone else pointed out, there's much better entertainment available than watching a few people dance in a circle.

I was in a maypole dancing squad and we were AMAZING. We got invited all over the place to perform.

Our club also did English country dancing including barn dances and folk dances.

We had a lot of very intricate patterns and it was really a lot of fun.

For anyone who has ever been to a ceiligh - it’s a bit like that, except team based and more complex because you have to go at the perfect pace and keep the tension just right in your ribbon, no one calls the moves you have to learn the whole dance by heart and all the patterns are different. And you have to be able to dance it in reverse to unwind it. Our club teacher could always figure out who had messed up the pattern and if you caused a knot then the proverbial really hit the fan. It was a LOT of fun!

Agree with this: Ironically, the sort of people who carry on these traditions would probably themselves be condemned as ‘woke’

I don't do maypole dancing, but I do traditional British clog and step dancing. It's a dying tradition that we are desperately trying to keep alive. Here's my clogs.

I loved maypole dancing and in fact, I was voted May Queen <preen> which was very fun as I had to preside over the May Fair and hand out prizes and judge stalls. A highlight of my primary school!
But we did spend what seems like an inordinate amount of time learning the dances and country dancing and I’m sure that time could probably have been better spent on maths and English, but my kids in primary did a load of random time filler stuff too so I guess there’s always something going on.

I grew up in London in the 1960s and we did it at my primary school. To me, there was something magical about the way we wove the ribbons and then unwound them without everyone getting tangled up. I loved it!

That’s fab! Are you in the northeast? I heard there was still some clog dancing there.

@Ozgirl76 outing but I wonder if you went to a school near me! It was popular where I grew up and based on your name I’m guessing we might be similar ages

I suspect it’s more that there are so many ways entertainment options these days which is a shame as doing is always more fun than doom scrolling or channel surfing

My children's old London primary school still has maypole dancers come in for one day every summer to teach the kids how to do it.

Seem like a lot of fun

Locally we also still have morris dancers. They put on displays at various pubs around north east London and Essex, ask for donations. They raise a lot of money for various charities.

And yet watching men chase a ball up and down a field whilst trying to prevent each other kicking it into a net is insanely popular.

It’s funny what is considered entertaining and what isn’t.

Personally I love watching maypole dancing - just very hard to find it done wel any more

I work in a secondary school and the fuss we get from the boys about the dance module covered in PE is unbelievable. Worse, their parents back them up and say they shouldn’t be made to do it as they don’t want to. Another vote for it not being wokeness that’s the problems