The Maypole

[deckardcanine]

I’ve wondered how the maypole dance tradition came to be.
Historians don’t even know the starting century—
Or culture, for that matter: Maybe India or Rome
Or even northern Africa was once its only home.
Regardless, in the Renaissance, the pole was firmly tied
To May Day in the British Isles, where Christians did preside.
You might think that’s ironic, since we see it now as pagan,
But scholars sometimes speculate the ritual was taken
From raiders in Germanic tribes who venerated trees.
(It seems they made a maypole just by lopping limbs and leaves.)
Another theory holds it represents the world axis,
Which does relate to seasons, so it could explain the praxis.
The other common notion was professed by Sigmund Freud.
I’m leaving you to guess it, as it renders me annoyed.
The Puritans believed it too, and that is likely why
The maypole met disfavor with the Christians by and by.
But I prefer to simply think the pole expresses mirth
At spring-to-summer progress of the fertile land’s rebirth.