What’s the idea of Maypole dancing?

My own limited research suggests that it’s a centuries old tradition from England and central Europe, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that it comes from somewhere else entirely. Years ago I found an essay on Maypole traditions that is the basis for much of what I’ve heard. There are all sorts of variations. The notion of young girls dancing around the May pole seems to be an English tradition. The pictures and reports I’ve seen of maypole dancing all seem to come from England or places where English people have settled. In Germany, there’s a different maypole tradition. The young men of a village treat maypoles as totems to be defended, and different villages strive to steal each others’ poles. If a young man has a sweetheart, he might erect a small maypole in front of her bedroom window. I’m not sure if Freud ever commented on that tradition, but I wouldn’t be surprised. In Hastings, the essential objective of the maypole dance was for some grade school kids to have fun and ...  more