The roots of traditional May Day revels go very deep.
By: Dawn Nikithser
It’s May the lusty month of May. Flowers are springing up, days are heating up and everyone is getting ready to celebrate the return of warm weather and summertime festivities.
The first day of May has been considered a special occasion since ancient times. Traditionally known as Beltane among Europe’s Celtic peoples, May Day is a time when growth is celebrated and the warmth of the sun is welcomed back after the cold and gloom of winter. It is a fertility festival, a time to plant crops, harvest the beginnings of the very early spring crops and dance ceremonial dances around the Maypole (a phallic symbol), entwining it with ribbons to capture the power of the wakening Earth.
Princeton has its own way of celebrating May Day, with two dancing troupes keeping the traditions in their own ways.
Founded in 1990, the Mercer Maypole Dancers dance at dawn each May Day. Founder Janet Mills had been intrigued by Maypole and May Day traditions for some time.
"They were pretty to look at and it seemed like it would be fun to do," Ms. Mills recalled but it wasn’t until she came across a set of directions for Maypole dancing that she decided to give it a try.
"We went to a friend’s home and chopped down a sassafras tree, and the ribbons were made of fabric donated by a woman who sewed wedding gowns and bridesmaid dresses," she said.
Although the tradition is ancient, the popular image of lovely young people dancing around a beribboned Maypole is actually an invention of the late 18th century, with the first written instructions on how to "make" a Maypole appearing in 1884.
In traditional May Day celebrations throughout Europe, the loveliest maidens of the village would gather at dawn to dance around the pole and plait it with colored ribbons, all hoping that she would be the one chosen as the May Queen, the earthly representation of the goddess of spring, who would then dance with the May King. Traditionally, May Day is a day for planting, in every sense of the word for taking advantage of all of the fertility in the air.
Each May Day, the Mercer Maypole Dancers gather at dawn near the Mercer Oak at Princeton Battlefield, along with Millstone River Morris, a like-minded group of dancers, who have been doing their Mercer Oak dances for the past seven years. On Wednesday the Mercer Maypole Dancers also performed at several private schools and at Terhune Orchards in Lawrence Township and at Princeton University’s Firestone Plaza. You can catch them Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at the Princeton Shopping Center.
The second Princeton troupe that kicks forth each May Day is Handsome Molly, a group of local molly dancers. Molly dancing is a dance style out of the east of England; it features lots of shouting, bright colors and painted faces or masks. Men would dress as women ("Mollys") and dance in exchange for money and beer. Handsome Molly has been celebrating May Day with the other Princeton dance groups since 1993, when the group was started by Sue Dupré and Mary Zikos.
According to Ms. Zikos, a ritual dance weekend in New York City sparked the women’s interest. They later saw a video of The Seven Champions, a group out of Kent, England, whom many credit with reviving and reinventing contemporary Molly dancing.
"We were hooked (by it)," said Ms. Zikos. "We assembled dancers from existing Princeton ritual teams … and started learning a dance right off (the videotape)."
Following the Champions’ lead, Handsome Molly also incorporated vocals and live musicians, notably pipers and tabor players, into their performances. Ms. Dupré began choreographing new dances. Handsome Molly has since danced all over Princeton, across the country and in Canada.
"Handsome Molly dances on Princeton Streets sometimes just ’cause we feel like it,’ " Ms. Zikos said. "Our audiences enjoy the dancing and always have lots of questions."