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?

We danced round the maypole and other singing games at school until I was 8. Traditional English country dancing too. Alas all that stopped when the head teacher who favoured it retired. This was in 1970s early 80sLondon.

There's plenty of folk dance going on if you go to the right parts of the country at the right time of year.

Not much maypole dancing going on at the moment in October.

there is a massive resurgence of folk traditions going on at the moment. Morris dancing groups being set up all over. It's all very woke as well.

Who would sign up and take part if it happened in your area?

My primary school had a maypole with brightly coloured ribbons. I always wanted to dance around it, but was never chosen. I watched the favoured girls weave plaits and other patterns.

Eventually the maypole was abandoned in an outdoor storage area (minus the ribbons) and left to go rusty. I'm still a bit sad about it. I don't know why we gave up this pretty tradition.

@QueenMaiker @NoWordForFluffy yes I went to a village school in West Sussex in the 1980s!

I remember doing country dancing at primary school & the main reason I enjoyed it was that I got to dance & hold hands with the boys I liked!

I went to primary school in Bedfordshire in the 1980s… we did Maypole dancing and had to perform at the village fayre on May Day!

This. I can’t imagine anything more tedious to watch.

It had pretty much faded out in the early 80s when I was at primary school. I’d vaguely heard about maypole dancing but never did it. Woke wasn’t a thing then.

80s childhood in rural midlands- we did loads of may pole and country dancing. My dc did quite a bit in preparation for the annual village May Day celebrations at primary school too. May king and Queen and parades round the village are still popular, as is Harvest festival. I think’ wokeness’ is irrelevant in these matters.
The culprit for the demise of traditional activities is probably just fashion, more urban living and less rural communities to teach/ promote this stuff.

I did it in the 80s in my suburban primary school. Plus other country dancing (came in handy for celidhs at weddings )

The last twice I've been in town I've seen Morris dancers. It looks great fun. I would have hung around to watch and enjoy but unfortunately I was accompanied by a teenager.

It's a shame that English folk traditions aren't more widely valued.

99% of stuff on Netflix for starters ?

My DCs' hippy, Steineresque kindergarten had maypole dancing, and still does. Watching a bunch of 3 year olds collide with each other, go round the wrong way or forget their brief and wander off into the shrubbery never fails to amuse.

I'm a morris dancer - there's quite a resurgence at the moment.

I don't think it's anything to do with "wokeness." It's more that the people who moan about losing folk traditions have no interest in participating themselves. If every one of them took up a heritage tradition or hobby - doesn't have to be dancing - then those traditions would be flourishing again. Similar to the recent study that found (shock) that people who describe themselves as nationalist Christians and moan about losing our Christian identity rarely attend church themselves.

They want the nostalgia vision of picture-postcard Morris dancing on the green by the pub and cycling to Evensong, but they wouldn't be seen dead dancing Morris, they never volunteer to litter-pick on the green, they prefer tins at home or Wetherspoons to the local brewery, and they think that cycling is gay and Evensong is a track by Coldplay.

If you want traditions to flourish you have to join in, it's how they work.

It is actually really stressful to do. If you go even slightly wrong then you don’t find out until the end when there was a big tangle.

I performed in it nearly 40 years ago and can still remember looking up to the top to check it was all ok at the end of the dance.

Single plaiting was the hardest.

It's not wokeness, it's the fact that we English have a fundamental need to disparage our own roots for some reason. We literally mock our own traditions at every turn. No other nation does this.

It’s definitely still a big thing in Sweden.

Round here there is still a tradition of Morris, ceiligh and may pole. Wokest bunch of bastards you ever met. They are currently making cider and plans for wassailing. Some are not even white.

And it's getting mainly little girls (but sometimes boys) to wrap ribbons round a penis. It's a fertility dance. I have never seen maypole dancing, although I was brought up in London, which may be why. Customs come and go. We don't celebrate May Day and we no longer celebrate Whitsun (Mr Heath, I think, did that) and the only reason Christmas and Easter survive is that the retail industry would fold without them and would certainly prevent their disappearance from the calendar.

Every nation I've ever spent time in scoffs at some of its traditions. Urbanised youth reject their grandparents' rural pastimes, then their kids get into them again. It's healthy up to a point.

I don't know how all these people going on about "No other country" etc etc know that, very few of them seem to know much about what goes on in other countries.

Loved maypole dancing and country dancing. I’d be more than happy for my DD to do it at primary. I went to a village school in the Cotswolds and we also had a fete in May.

With each generation we get more options for ways to enjoy ourselves, types of music to listen etc. This means that some things that were once popular when there was less choice fall from favour. People today prefer to dance in different ways to different music is all. No one came along and banned Maypole dancing.
(Well strictly speaking, the Puritans did. But I doubt they were particularly woke)

We had a maypole at my primary school in the midlands, 1980s & I used to love doing the May pole dancing!

I did Maypole dancing in the 1990s in the south of England, and country dancing.

DS did country dancing, also down south, last year at school, but not Maypole dancing.

It is a shame it’s dying out but suspect as you say it’s more a lack of skilled teachers, awareness and having a Maypole!