The May Day bank holiday has deep roots in Wales, and is thought to have evolved out of an ancient Celtic festival to celebrate the beginning of summer. Here’s a look at some Welsh bank holiday traditions.

Calon Haf

The 1 May was referred to as Calon Haf or Calon Mai. It was an important date on the farming calendar, when livestock would be turned out to pasture after a winter of confinement, and farming families would move out of the valleys and onto higher ground for the summer.

The evening before was marked with bonfires, which is thought to have been a custom passed on from more superstitious times. As with All Souls Eve in the autumn, it was thought to be a time of year when the barriers between the spirit world of the dead and the living were at their thinnest.

To ward off the possibility of evil beings entering their homes, villagers lit fires and performed rituals that were thought to bring good luck. These included jumping three times over the fire and driving cattle between the flames. Fires were associated with purification and cleansing, and some people even put ash in their shoes in order to ward off disease.

May Carols

On the morning of May Day, it was traditional in some areas of Wales to greet the neighbourhood with song. Much like the traditional Christmas carols, singers would go from door to door in rural areas and perform a verse for the household, hopefully for the reward of a gift of food or money…

This was thought to bring God’s favour and thank him for the bountiful gifts that may come to the family for the rest of the year.

Hawthorn decorations

On the eve of May Day, it was traditional to gather hawthorn branches and flowers to decorate the outside of houses (although not the inside as this was a bad omen). The branches represented fertility and new life.

Find the straw man

‘Playing straw man’ or chwarae gwr gwellt was a May Day tradition in some parts of the country. A man who had lost the affections of his sweetheart to another man would make a straw man effigy of his rival and hang it near to the girl’s home with a note pinned to it, perhaps giving vent to his true feelings…

It was also a traditional time of year for men to leave a bouquet of rosemary and white ribbons at the window of a love interest. Maybe they also left a handmade Welsh lovespoon as a token of affection in some areas too!

Calan Mai festivities and dancing

The music and song was accompanied by mead drinking, and the festivities could turn into lively and bawdy affairs. Dancing was, and indeed still is, a major part of the May Day customs. In rural areas, a harpist or fiddler would sit on a tree stump and perform while the locals danced around him.