How To Celebrate Beltane with a Maypole Dance

Patti Wigington is a pagan author, educator, and licensed clergy. She is the author of Daily Spellbook for the Good Witch, Wicca Practical Magic and The Daily Spell Journal.

The Maypole is one of the traditional symbols of Beltane, and let's not kid ourselves about its purpose: it's a giant phallus. Because Beltane festivities usually kicked off the night before with a big bonfire, the Maypole celebration usually took place shortly after sunrise the next morning. This was when couples (and probably more than a few surprised triads) came staggering in from the fields, clothes in disarray and straw in their hair after a night of bonfire-inspired lustiness.

Did You Know?

• If you plan in advance, you can have a fun and exciting Maypole dance by digging a hole ahead of time, and inserting a 15-20 foot wooden pole.
• Invite each participant to bring their own ribbons, and attach these to the top of the pole.
• By the time the dance is done, the pole will be wrapped in a sheath of ribbons, and your guests will have had a wonderful time!

The pole was erected on the village green or common, or even a handy field—thrust into the ground either permanently or on a temporary basis—and brightly colored ribbons attached to it. Young people came and danced around the pole, each holding the end of a ribbon. As they wove in and out, men going one way and women the other, it created a sleeve of sorts—the enveloping womb of the earth—around the pole. By the time they were done, the Maypole was nearly invisible beneath a sheath of ribbons.

Set Up Your Maypole

To set up your own Maypole dance, here's what you'll need:

• Dig a hole in advance, a few feet deep. You don't want your friends to wait while you hunt for a shovel. The hole should be at least three feet deep, to keep the pole from flopping over during the ceremony.
• A pole anywhere from 15 to 20 feet long, preferably made of wood
• Guests who like to have fun

Ask each participant to bring their own ribbon; it should be about 20 feet long, by two to three inches wide. Once everyone arrives, attach the ribbons to one end of the pole (if you put a metal eyelet screw in the pole beforehand, it makes it a lot easier because you can just tie each ribbon to the eyelet). Have extra ribbons on hand, because inevitably someone will have forgotten theirs.

Once the ribbons are attached, raise the pole until it is vertical, and slide it into the hole. Be sure to make lots of bawdy jokes here. Pack dirt in around the base of the pole so it won't shift or fall during the dance.

Host Your Dance

If you don't have an equal number of male and female guests, don't worry. Just have everyone count off by twos. People who are "1" will go in a clockwise direction, people who are "2" go counterclockwise. Hold your ribbons in the hand that is closest to the pole, your inside hand. As you move in the circle, pass people by on first the left, and then the right, then the left again. If you're passing them on the outside, hold your ribbon up so they pass under it. You might want to do a practice round beforehand. Keep going until everyone runs out of ribbon, and then knot all the ribbons at the bottom.

If none of that makes sense to you, don't worry! The folks at MaypoleDance.com have some great tips available, including instructions on the introductory dance steps and the first round of plaiting. They point out,

"There are many variants of this dance, with each team taking a turn to move or with one team passing two of the other team before dancing around them. You can easily experiment but remember that the goal is to be able to unwind cleanly after you have used up all of the ribbons during the wind up."

One thing that's always welcome at a Maypole Dance is music. There are a number of CDs available, but there are some bands whose music have a May theme to them. Look for the phrase "Morris music" or traditional pipe and drum tunes. Of course, the best thing of all is to have live music, so if you have friends who are willing to share their skill and sit out the dance, ask them to provide some musical entertainment for you.

Additional Maypole Pointers

• If you're doing a kids' Maypole, it's probably easier just to have them all go in one direction with their ribbons. It doesn’t look quite as fancy when it's done, but it's still pretty.
• You may want to have a crown of flowers attached as well — put that at the top once all the ribbons are in place, but before you raise the pole.