How a city's May Day traditions 'faded away'

1 May 2025

Curtis Lancaster

BBC News

The King John's Morris Men have welcomed in May Day with a dance since 1978

King John's Morris Men Five Morris men from King John's Morris Men wearing top hats white shirts, black tros and white socks pulled up to the knee. They have yellow and black tassels and accessories. They are dancing in front of the bargate in Southampton at dawn — The King John's Morris Men have welcomed in May Day with a dance since 1978

There was a period of time when thousands gathered at a town's medieval centrepiece to welcome the start of May.

Archive newspaper articles from May Day in the now city of Southampton show the festival drew large crowds in the late 19th and early 20th Century.

The event still appeals to the masses in Oxford but its popularity has waned in other parts of the country in recent years.

Mark Stoyle, a professor of early modern history at the University of Southampton, told the BBC why he thinks the tradition has "faded away".

May Day in Southampton in 1915 attracted thousands to the Bargate

SCC Libraries Photograph. Medieval in origin, the tradition of spring carols from the Bargate at dawn on the first of May was revived by Canon Neville Lovett, rector of St Mary's and later Bishop of Portsmouth and Salisbury. The tradition still continues although the carols are no longer sung by the choir of St Mary's Church but by the boys of King Edward VI School. As this 1906 photograph shows, vast crowds attended before the First World War. Properties to be seen include Wm. Parkhouse, jewellers and Stead & Simpson Ltd. — May Day in Southampton in 1915 attracted thousands to the Bargate

He said the exact origins of May Day were not known.

"The earliest records of it are in the 1200s, so it probably stretches back way beyond then," Mr Stoyle said.

From then on there was a lot of evidence of celebrations taking place across the country.

He said: "Usually young men and women would go out into the countryside on the eve of May Day and they would gather up all sorts of flowers and blossoms and they would bring them back to decorate their own communities.

"That's the classic bringing home of the May, you go out into the woods and you bring back the May.

"It's like bringing back the promise of summer."

Magdalen College Choir still performs for gatherers in Oxford

Crowds of people in Oxford gathering for May Day — Magdalen College Choir still performs for gatherers in Oxford

Many traditions have formed since that point, including one of the most famous, which happens in Oxford.

The Magdalen College choir sing the traditional hymn Hymnus Eucharisticus at 06:00 each 1 May from the top of one of the city's great towers.

Mr Stoyle believes this tradition "struck a chord" with the people of Southampton, who felt inspired to start a similar event.

"In the 1880s someone said 'wouldn't it be a great idea to have a Southampton choir singing from a public place here":[]}