there have been several threads of this nature on Mudcat, and somehow I never noticed them in past years.

When I was growing up I heard about maypoles and I heard a couple of songs such as "now to the maypole haste away ...". It wasn't part of my own experience - though it sounded very pleasant - and I always associated such customs with May days in England.

As a young adult, I thought of May Day as a workers' holiday. The Christian churches are the only organisations to co-opt pagan festivals! Some years I have gone to the local annual trade union rally. It is not well attended.

It is not May Day that we celebrate now so much as the nearest weekend, as we have a Monday bank holiday. This is THE weekend for festivals. Mudcat gathering in Groningen was never a starter for me for I knew I'd be spoiled for choice nearer home. Jazz festival here in Derry, Girvan folk fest in Ayrshire, Scandinavian fiddle workshop in Yorkshire, Irish traditional music fests with workshops in Counties Donegal and Mayo (and no doubt several other places), Joe Heany commemortative sean-nós weekend in Conamara, etc. These events don't have any specific Bealtaine focus, though they are probably in the general spirit (any fertility rites are held in private, however).

Old people in Derry city have told me of hanging yellow gorse flowers over their doors on May Day to ward off evil spirits; the custom has died out. The Irish language choir and children in some of the schools sing Thugamar Féin an Samhradh Linn. The religious folk in the area of Doon Well in Donegal gather together there. One association is that this is when Mary is supposed to have conceived Jesus.

I don't know of anyone lighting fires, intentionally, on the day. I've heard Bealtaine means the fire of the god Baal ("tine", with two syllables, means "fire")

This year a friend told me she's going to a May-Day well dressing in Scotland, and she reminded me of the significance of the song "Thugamar Féin an Samhradh Linn". And I heard Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin's album "An Dealg Óir", which includes two Irish songs associated with May Day processions, and came across a Beltane Night song based on "Sí Beag Sí Mór". So now I am noticing the Mudcat May Day threads, posting regular songs and information, and thinking of organising a local May Day folklore evening next year. Not on the May holiday weekend of course; there's too much else on!