May Day 2011 May 1, 2011

Why not join us to celebrate the coming of May and the start of springtime by joining in our Annual May Day Celebration.

Dancing round the Maypole, crowning the May Queen, Morris dancers, traditional music and jig dolls are coming to the Museum of East Anglian Life on Bank Holiday Monday 2nd May 2011!

Throughout the day we will be encouraging all ages to join us in dancing round the Museum’s Maypole and welcoming the Bury Fair Women’s Morris Dancers who will dance at 12:00 and 1:30pm. The dancers takes their name from the great and notorious fair held in Bury St Edmunds from 1272 until 1871, when it was abolished by an Act of Parliament due to the excessive drunkenness and immorality. Today we are much more restrained. Morris dancing is fun, good exercise and is also very sociable.

For the children we have a Green Man hunt around the Museum along with a May garland workshop (no need to book) and the chance to dance around the Maypole. The dances chosen for the maypole will be simple, and basic instruction will be given on the day.

This will be the second year that we have reintroduced the age old tradition of the crowning of the May Queen! The Queen will join a procession with the Lord and Lady of May. They will walk from the 13th Century Abbots Hall Barn up through the woodland walk to the May Queen’s throne where she will be crowned queen for a year.

Past May Queens will also be entitled to FREE entry to the Museum’s May Day Celebrations on the 3rd of May when they bring proof they were once a May Queen.