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?

I was at primary in the 90s and used to learn maypole dancing at school (I think it was after school rather than during PE) and then perform at the schools May Fair (which may or may not have been in May). Hadn't thought about that in a while, shame DD's school don't do it now.

Was it ever fully adopted in the English culture? I don’t think my English cousins were regularly doing it in school in the 80s and 90s never mind their kids doing it now. Whereas every Scottish person remembers having months of PE dedicated to Scottish country dancing throughout their schooling and that is still the case now with my kids. Then you will regularly get ceilidh dancing at uni balls, weddings, parties etc throughout your adult life so it is reinforced.

I agree it's nothing to do with wokeness.

I think it's partly because we have "better" entertainment now.

Partly because we are much less connected to the land and the seasons than we used to be, and most of these traditions are based around the changing year.

Partly because scientific knowledge has supplanted religion and superstition and we no longer feel the need to welcome in the summer because we know it will come anyway.

I'm not completely convinced if losing all the magic and romance of the latter is a good thing, but I do think it's a shame that we're losing so many folk traditions.

Why would you think your mother and grandmother didn’t do maypole dancing because they grew up in London? We had a maypole at my very ordinary London primary school in the 1970s, and I had friends at other schools in and around London who’ve said the same thing.
Times change though, and I expect most maypoles spent many years at the back of the PE cupboard before ending up on the skip; not necessarily because of wokeness, just because they have so many other activities in school these days.
I think we found it a bit odd even in my day, and I remember quite a few incidents of children messing around and accidentally on purpose getting tangled up… good fun though.

Agree with this. I was going to say it would be difficult to encourage most people to do this nowadays. Nothing to do with “wokeness” at all, it’s just outdated.

Oh I loved doing Maypole dancing as a child. So satisfying seeing the pattern develop. I'd be surprised if any member of Reform had ever done it, though.

Yes. It's gone the same way as tops and hoops and that game we used to play in the 70s that involved two kids stretching out a pair of tights so other kids could do elaborate jumps and twists in the middle. Also the knees up round the pub piano and pottage. When needs must a pole and ribbons served as top entertainment. With all the options of the modern world, not so much.

I’ve never heard anyone sneering at maypole dancing?

I did both may pole and countryside dancing at primary school in SE England in the 80s and 90s, always wheeled out to perform at the local fetes!

There's plenty of this stuff that still happens - eg the Jack in the Geen Festival in Hastings https://hastingstraditionaljackinthegreen.co.uk/about and Broadstairs Folk Week, but as has already been said, it all relies on people volunteering time and getting involved and it seems many would rather moan on Facebook.

Not sure what you mean?

The types that are moaning about English traditions being erased.

If anything i think there's more interest in keeping folk traditions alive these days. I live in London and stumble across morris dancing quite a lot, most recently outside a pub on southbank. Have watched maypole dancing twice this year, once at may day festival in Brixton and also at the Pearly King and Queens harvest festival. So fun!

I imagine the types moaning about English traditions being erased (assuming there is a type) will most likely be people who do have experience of some of them though…?

I don’t think it’s got anything to do with politics or being woke anyway, it’s just a natural dying out of an ancient past time that’s still upheld in parts of the country but mostly forgotten in others.

Someone did up thread

I did maypole dancing in the 1980s at school in the West Country. Was most put out that the ribbons were navy, grey, maroon rather than anything more jolly!

As others have said, it is very fashionable and predictable to blame everything on 'woke' and 'the wokerati'. Perhaps it's as simple as no one being bothered to organise it?

I loathed maypole dancing at school as we had to be paired with a boy.

Someone should bring it back and incorporate it into a gym glass. I'd love it.

A maypole would make a lot of demands on a school.
A new maypole would cost £700-800.
It would need suitable storage space.
Regular supply of new ribbons
h&s inspections and prob replacing every 5-10 years.
Time taken to undo it after the lesson.

On a value for money basis - in terms of teaching about British culture/history or covering dance in PE - how high would it rank?

My twins' primary have May dances round the maypole and a May King and Queen every year, so tradition is alive and well round here

We have maypole dancing every year in our village. It is not a school thing and isvvery popular with the 5 to 9 age group who have 4 or so training sessions before tjeir performance on Mayday bank holiday monday

If you want to know why Maypole dancing is probably not as widely celebrated as previously, just pop a notice in your local FB group inviting people to dance around a giant phallus in celebration of spring.

(you can imagine a smiley here >-<)

Unlike Welsh and Scottish Britons, English Britons are not encouraged to celebrate their heritage.

Unless it's the type of wokeness that looks down on anything rural and traditional as 'embedding traditional gender roles' an therefore to be regarded as sus. But I'd imagine that's only the province of a few killjoys, and a lot of what you see with these marches say, down at Whitstable where they have a parade like that, there's a lot of gender-bending in the costumes and so on.

You see a bit of it in the western parts of the country, even in Bath or the centre of Bristol. Who are the ones with blackface ? With the big tree/bush ?

I really like it and hope it continues.

The University of Surrey (formerly Whitelands College) still celebrates May Day and has a May Monarch (formerly a May Queen). There are plenty of these celebrations around if you actually look for them

https://www.roehampton.ac.uk/student-life/colleges/whitelands/may-day/