Wessex Morris Men at the Cerne Abbas Giant, Dorset Hercules, Oliver Cromwell or a very rude man—whatever you want to call the Cerne Abbas Giant, you can’t fail to miss this naked, club-wielding 180ft-tall chalk figure. He dominates the hillside above the Dorset village of Cerne Abbas and is so well endowed he’s been dubbed ‘Britain’s most famous phallus’. While some believe him to be thousands of years old, the earliest record of him was made in the 17th century. Nevertheless, the Giant has long been revered as a symbol of fertility and, as the sun rises on each May Day morn, the Wessex Morris Men can be seen performing a special ‘fertility stick dance’ above his head (5.15am), before bringing the party to the village square (7.30am). www.wessexmorrismen.co.uk
Jack-in-the-Green, Hastings, East Sussex
Kicking off with a dawn salute in the form of vigorous Morris dance, the weekend-long Jack-in-the-Green festival at Hastings upholds the momentum with ceilidhs, folk music and a thundering ‘drum off’ until Sunday, when the flower-bedecked Jack makes a run for it. Followed by frolicking Mad Jack’s Women, Bogies, Sweeps, Giants and the May Queen, Jack processes for hours through the town, with many a musical and culinary interlude. After the dancing, the Bogies parade the Jack down to the main stage, where he is symbolically slain and the Spirit of Summer is released for another year—it’s not as scary as it sounds. www.hastingsjack.co.uk
Kingsbury May Festival, Kingsbury Episcopi, Somerset
Flooding over the past few years has caused a lot of trouble for the much-loved annual Kingsbury May Festival, but this year, it’ll be back with a vengeance and expects more than 5,000 visitors. The theme for 2015 is bees, with a multitude of stallholders selling beeswax, honey and bee-attracting plants. There’ll also be a fancy-dress Pram Race, maypole dancing, Morris dancing, clog dancing… and a Green Man covered in garlands, not to mention a hog roast, brass band, musical performances, a puppet show, bungee-running, face-painting, treasure hunt, egg-throwing, ‘tossing the sheaf’ and a vintage-tractor and classic-car display. www.kingsburymayfestival.co.uk
’Obby ’Oss Day, Padstow, Cornwall In a unique and delightfully bizarre tradition, two ’Obby ’Osses—otherwise known as men wearing horse masks and large hula hoops covered in a black sailcloths—gallivant through the fishing town of Padstow (all the more picturesque for the ribbons, flags and spring flowers, such as bluebells, forget-me-nots and cowslips, that the townspeople have adorned it with overnight), attempting to catch female merrymakers. They parade separately and are followed by dancers, accordionists, drummers and a Teaser with a club. Finally, the two ’Osses dance around a maypole, before returning to their respective stables. ’Obby ’Oss Day supposedly originates with the ancient festival of Beltane and, as such, is thought to be one of Britain’s oldest May Day traditions, attracting some 30,000 onlookers. Other theories explain all the horsing around as a pagan call for rain, a fertility rite, or as a frightening deterrent to a possible landing by the French.
Beltane Fire Festival, Calton Hill, Edinburgh Like most May Day merrymakers, when the ancient Gaels celebrated Beltane, they were marking the start of the summer, when their cattle were driven out to pasture. The modern-day Beltane Fire Festival, held on Calton Hill in Edinburgh, evokes the tribal-esque flame rituals and dances that were originally carried out on the eve of May 1, usually on the top of a hill or mountain, to protect cattle and crops. Back then, a large bonfire was key to the proceedings, with the cattle sometimes driven to leap over the flames—nowadays, the bonfire’s role remains, but the leaping is left to the extravagantly costumed revellers, who parade and feast, led by a May Queen, a Green Man and a pounding drumbeat. www.beltane.org
Gawthorpe Maypole Procession, Gawthorpe, West Yorkshire Every first Saturday in May, the Yorkshire village of Gawthorpe—home to the earliest recorded permanent maypole (1850), not to mention the annual World Coal Carrying Championships—is taken over by a joyous pageant, one of the most well-established of its kind. Colourfully decorated floats, a May Queen and attendants, maidens in white, marching bands and the generally fancily-dressed public (some on horseback) parade for about 4½ miles and congregate on Maypole Green, where elaborate dances, which are said to include the most comprehensive plaiting sequences in the country and take six months to learn, are performed around the maypole by local schoolchildren. There’s also a funfair and coronation of the May Queen. www.gawthorpemaypole.org.uk
A month-by-month guide to the most beautiful gardens to visit in Britain
Some gardens are even better in winter. Read our list of the best gardens to visit all year round.
6 of the best outdoor sculpture parks
These glorious sculpture parks can be admired all year round.
-
How sport achieved global domination — and the luxury brands that followed in pursuit of goldSport is now a prime target for luxury brands and if they play it right there’s a multi-billion dollar prize waiting for them at the finish line.
-
Art, architecture and plastic bricks at Lego House: 'It's as if the National Gallery set up easels and paints next to the masterpieces and invited you try your hand at creating a Van Gogh'The rural Danish town where Lego was created is dominated by the iconic toy — and at Lego House, it has a fittingly joyful site of pilgrimage. Toby Keel paid a visit.
