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Maypoles, An International Perspective
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Maypoles, An International Perspective |
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Thames Valley |
England & Wales |
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Maypoles Around the World |
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| Germany | Munich |
In Germany the tall poles are "Maibaums" and the ribbon and pole dance is the "Bandltanz" or "Bandertanz" Maypoles are very common in Bavaria, each town displaying their trades in pictures attached to the pole. |
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| Germany | Nuremberg | Sword Dance c 1561. Notice the two men fighting each other, raised on platforms of platted swords. This was the trade dance of the knifesmiths. Coopers would devise dances using decorated hoops, cloth makers: ribbons. This shows a possible origin of some platting dances, the ribbon and pole dance is sometimes associated with the sword dance on the continent. |  | |||
| Austria | Salzburg | There is a story about how the young W. A. Mozart fell in love with a cloth maker's daughter and would use the buying of ribbons as an excuse to visit her in her father's shop. He went on to compose music to a ribbon and pole dance (bandltanz) in honor of her. | . | |||
| France | Versailles | Engraving by Francois Nicolas Martinet. Costume
Ball during the 1763 Carnival Season at Versailles. In the South of France the ribbon and pole dance is called "Li Courdello" or "Les Courdelles" |
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| Netherlands | . | Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564-1638) painted "The Dance Around the Maypole" (ca 1620-25) |  | |||
| Sweden | . | A Midsummer pole is erected. It is in the form of a cross and celebrates the birth of St. John the Baptist. Circle dances, songs and games are held around it. It is decorated with birch leaves, flowers and ribbons. |  | |||
| Spain | . | The "Baile de las Cintas" is popular on St. John's Day in Spain |  | |||
| Italy | Fenestrelle | The sword dance of Fenestrelle has a maypole section. After the Harlequin has been lifted up on the platform of crossed swords, the Turk comes on carrying the pole and squats on the ground with it. The ribbons are then platted around the pole. | . | |||
| Basque Regions | . | Zinta Dantza is the Basque version and is said to represent our attachment to the tree of life | . | |||
| Sicilly | . | Ballo della Cordella | . | |||
| Mexico | . | As well as La Danza de las Cintas (which may be a European introduction) Mexico has its own Bird Men or "Voladores" who jump off a pole attached to ropes and circle to the ground as the ropes unwind. The 4 birdmen represent the 4 compass points and they rotate exactly 13 times before reaching the ground. |   | |||
| America | . | The Sun Dance: In the late 1800s Frederick Schwatka witnessed the Sun
dance of the Sioux Indians and wrote: "Each one of the young men presented himself to a medicine-man, who took between his thumb and forefinger a fold of the loose skin of the breast—and then ran a very narrow-bladed but sharp knife through the skin—a stronger skewer of bone, about the size of a carpenter's pencil was inserted. This was tied to a long skin rope fastened, at its other extremity, to the top of the sun-pole in the center of the arena. The whole object of the devotee is to break loose from these fetters. To liberate himself he must tear the skewers through the skin, a horrible task that even with the most resolute may require many hours of torture." Not all tribes practiced the piercing part of the ceremony but the dance was outlawed in Canada in 1880 and the USA in 1904. It has only recently been allowed again (under president Carter) and in a milder form where piercing is practiced. |
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| India | . | Holi Festival . As part of the Hindu festival of colour a pole decorated with coloured strips of cloth is erected. The festival culminates with everyone throwing coloured powder over each other. |  | |||
| Tibet | Mt. Kailas | Saga Dawa: A tall pole decorated with flags is erected for this festival held on the full moon of the 4th month of the Tibetan calendar. | . | |||
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| What does it all mean? The use of a tall pole as a focal point for celebration is common and widespread throughout the world, as is the use of a prominent tree as a meeting place. In it's most practical sense it can be seen from far away so that people can make their way to that location. Symbolically it most often represents the centre of a community, the"Axis Mundi" (centre of the world), World or Cosmic Tree or Tree of Life. Dancing in circles around a focal point is one of the most basic dance patterns, practiced since prehistoric times. The most basic maypole dances involve holding hands in a circle around it, circling left and right and into the middle and out using a variety of steps. Spiral patterns painted on the pole may enhance the dizzying effect of rapidly circling it or be thought of as confusing evil spirits. |
| Our attachment to the pole. The use of strings, ropes, ribbons etc. to attach the dancers to the pole has been said to represent our attachment to, for example, the world tree or tree of life. Many authors have tried to trace the origin of the pole and its dances to ancient myths and religions. The Cosmic tree of Scandanavian and German myth: "Yggdrasil" is a likely candidate (for the older European tradition of tall maypoles) but equally people have looked to the classical past (as it has often been fashionable to do so). Christianised versions can sometimes be found in Catholic countries such as the biblical tree of life and 12 ribbons representing the 12 kinds of fruits found thereon. |
| Weaving the web. Weaving patterns feature in the maypole dances we have come to love today and probably satisfy a basic fascination with weaving, basket making, knotwork etc. It is probably the universal appreciation of these basic patterns which has evolved, in dance, throughout the world into all these diverse, yet strangely similar traditions. The patterns, the teamwork involved and fitting it all to the rhythms of the music have ensured its survival and development. |
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Thames Valley |
England & Wales |
