Folklore: May day Rhymes or songs

Subject: Folklore: May day Rhymes or songs
From: selby
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 11:00 AM

Has anyone got Mayday songs or rhymes that can be used by Kids before after or during a maypole plait
Keith

Subject: RE: Folklore: May day Rhymes or songs
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 12:08 PM

In the woods there grew a tree - a fine fine tree was he...

Subject: RE: Folklore: May day Rhymes or songs
From: GUEST,Confrontation Viper
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 12:39 PM

Here it is full:

In the woods there grew a tree
And a fine fine tree was he

And on that tree there was a limb
And on that limb there was a branch
And on that branch there was a nest
And in that nest there was an egg
And in that egg there was a bird
And from that bird a feather came
And of that feather was
A bed

And on that bed there was a girl
And on that girl there was a man
And from that man there was a seed
And from that seed there was a boy
And from that boy there was a man
And for that man there was a grave
From that grave there grew
A tree

In the Summerisle,
Summerisle, Summerisle, Summerisle wood
Summerisle wood.

From the website: http://www.wicker-man.com/musicofthewickerman.php

Subject: RE: Folklore: May day Rhymes or songs
From: Azizi
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 01:14 PM

Things must be very different where you guys & gals are if you can teach that song to kids without them snickering about the lines about And on that girl there was a man/And from that man there was a seed/etc.

Things must also be different where you live if the parents & guardians of those children wouldn't get indignant that by teaching that song as posted by Guest, Confrontation Viper {was he or she serious?} they'd probably accuse you of trying to teach their kids about sex- not to mention that the song includes that line about death {Oh, the horrors of that!}

Where I live, the words to the "Green Grass Grew All Around" @displaysong.cfm?SongID=10094 would be much more acceptable than the words to that "In the woods there grew a tree" song as posted above.

Were you serious about these words, or was that snark?

Subject: RE: Folklore: May day Rhymes or songs
From: Azizi
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 01:29 PM

I meant to add that I'm sorry, I don't know any May Day songs or rhymes for children. I suppose "Here We Go 'Round The Mulberry Bush" wouldn't count. I'm not being facetious about that-i guess it depends on the age group of children you're talking about. "The Mulberry Bush" would be for younger children.

I'm also not being facetious about this suggestion:

I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing
[The New Seekers]

I'd like to build a world a home
and furnish it with love.
Grow apple trees and honey bees
and snow white turtle doves.

I'd like to teach the world to sing
in perfect harmony.
I'd like to hold it in my arms,
and keep it company

I'd like to see the world for once
all standing hand in hand.
And hear them echo through the hills
for peace throughout the land.

It's the real thing
what the world wants today,
That's the way it'll stay
with the real thing.

I'd like to teach the world to sing
in perfect harmony.
A song of peace that echoes on
and never goes away.

Put your hand in my hand
let's begin today,
With your hand in my hand
help me find a way.

I'd like to see the world for once
all standing hand in hand.
And hear them echo through the hills
for peace throughout the land.

I'd like to teach the world to sing,
in perfect harmony.
A song of peace that echos on,
and never goes away.

http://www.metrolyrics.com/id-like-to-teach-the-world-to-sing-lyrics-new-seekers.html

Here's a link to the YouTube video of this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h5ZmyzRRuU

"I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)" is a pop song which originated as an advertising jingle, produced by Billy Davis and sung by the Hillside Singers, for Coca-Cola, and was featured in 1971 as a TV commercial.

The New Seekers also had a hit with the song around the same time"...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'd_Like_to_Teach_the_World_to_Sing

Even so, I think it would be a great song to teach children 5 years of age and up, for May Day or any day.

Subject: RE: Folklore: May day Rhymes or songs
From: GUEST,Confrontation Viper
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 02:00 PM

I assume Sedayne was being as facetious (as ever) on such pagan / folkloric matters; after all the Maypole is about as phallic as it gets no matter how sanitised by the Victorians. And since when do kids need to be taught about sex?

I include the words of Maypole Dance from Paul Giovanni's score to The Wicker Man as a contemporary exemplification of something very ancient & perennial. In the film the song is sung by kids.

Subject: RE: Folklore: May day Rhymes or songs
From: open mike
Date: 24 Apr 08 - 07:23 PM

This sounds as if it is a custom from the U.K.
So, can someone explain what is celebrated on May Day?
is it a Pre-Chrisitian rite of Spring?
International Worker's labor Day?

We used to make baskets or origami paper containters
and fill wioth candy or violets and hang from door knobs
and run away....that was how i remember celebrating may day.

then there is the signal "May Day, May Day" which means
help! save us! (or "Our Ship is sinking")

Subject: RE: Folklore: May day Rhymes or songs
From: open mike
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 03:32 AM

refresh...curious to know about may day customs..

Subject: RE: Folklore: May day Rhymes or songs
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 04:45 AM

These days with Bush, the legacy of Blair and our new prat at the top, Gordon Brown, Mayday probably IS a cry for help!
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: Folklore: May day Rhymes or songs
From: lady penelope
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 05:56 AM

Yes Geoff....   M'aidez = Help Me.

May day... May day as we now know it, is a re-invention/ressurection? The Victorians are kind of to blame. The general folk revivalist movement dragged various May traditions back out into the light and 'civilised' them. Partly due to certain revolutions in Russia and partly because May (specifically in Britain) is usually the first month with good weather for out door events, May Day became associated with workers and their unions.

Much further back it was know as going A Maying. The festivities were not confined to the first day in May, the whole month was considered apt.

Although actual customs (and the often obscure reasons for them) vary wildly from place to place, it's generally looked at as a time to celebrate the beginning of summer, the general idea of fertility, marriages (or handfastings) quite often took place about May time. Winter gear could be put away and lighter clothing worn ("Ne'er cast a clout till May be out" - although whether that refers to the month or the plant is unclear).

In an agricultural setting, May can be a bit of a month off - well, depending. Too soon to start harvesting crops, but the hard work of lambing and other spring husbandry is done. May was a traditonal month for the shearing. Teams of shearers would often go from croft to croft and it was considered a basic requirement to feed these teams well (as well as pay them!) These meals often turned into parties as often the teams would be the first travellers of the year to visit many of the more remote farms.

But the May festivities do go waaay back. Beltaine can be used as another name for the month of May, but was a reference to the Sun God Baal and the fires lit in celebration of his ascendance to reign over the summer months.

I think May has just been the month when the general populace can shake off the last of the winter and have a bit of a laugh, enjoy the good things in life and generally remember why it is we bother with all the hard work.

As for specific customs... that can get a wee bit involved. There's a book coming out at the beginning of May (quite apt eh? And yes, it's a bit of a plug) by a bloke called Keith Leech. It's mainly about Hastings Jack In The Green festival, but he does go into the whole May celebration thing as well. And my husband did most of the photographs... *G*

Subject: RE: Folklore: May day Rhymes or songs
From: lady penelope
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 06:02 AM

Oooh, songs and that.

Well there's always "Now is the month of Maying" but if anyone can sing that whilst skipping round a maypole they should get a medal...or possibly counselling...

There's The May Song that appears on Waterson Carthy 's Holy Heathens and the old Green Man album

Or The May song performed by Beggar's Velvet on their Lady Of Autumn album

Subject: RE: Folklore: May day Rhymes or songs
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 07:47 AM

Facetious? Moi? Heaven forbid, though a case might be made for The Wicker Man as dealing with the evils of any form of totalitarianism where any sort of individuality is ruthlessly persecuted in the name of whatever sort of ideology. The bogus paganism (is there any other sort?) thrown in by way of a tidy Volkish cultural contrivance better to subdue the masses, hence the sheer absurdity of the music! Ironic that people take it seriously these days...

Good film though; the only British Horror Musical indeed, and the only British film to pay any sort of attention at all to British folk song, even British folk song as entirely (and rather magnificently) reinvented by an American!

Subject: RE: Folklore: May day Rhymes or songs
From: selby
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 01:15 PM

I would like to point out that this is a kids thing wether you like maypole or not is irrelevant therfore the question remains

Has anyone got Mayday songs or rhymes that can be used by CHILDREN
before after or during a maypole plait
Keith

Subject: RE: Folklore: May day Rhymes or songs
From: Little Robyn
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 05:30 PM

Here we go gathering nuts in May.
Come lasses and lads.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Folklore: May day Rhymes or songs
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 06:56 AM

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