O, for a sup of your sweet cream,
Or a jug of your own beer;
And if we tarry in the town,
We’ll call another year.
Now take the Bible in your hand,
And read a chapter through,
And when the day of judgment comes,
The Lord will think of you.
Repent, repent, ye wicked men,
Repent before you die;
There’s no repentance in the grave,
When in the ground you lie.
But now my song is almost done,
I’ve got no more to say;
God bless you all, both great and small,
I wish you a joyful May.”
The garland is afterwards suspended by ropes from the school-house to an opposite tree, and the mayers and other children amuse themselves by throwing balls over it. With the money collected tea and cakes are provided for the joyous party. The Queen of the May takes her seat at the head of the tea-table, under a bower composed of branches of may and blackthorn; a wreath of flowers is placed on her head, and she is hailed “Lady of the May.” The attendants wait round her, the party of mayers seat themselves at a long table below, and the evening concludes with mirth and merriment.—Glossary, &c., p. 424.
Northumberland
The young people of both sexes go out early in the morning to gather the flowering thorn and the dew off the grass, which they bring home with music and acclamations; and having dressed a pole on the town-green with garlands, dance around it. A syllabub is also prepared for the May-feast, which is made of warm milk from the cow, sweet cakes, and wine; and a kind of divination is practised by fishing with a ladle for a wedding-ring which is dropped into it for the purpose of prognosticating who shall be first married.—Hutchinson, Hist. of Northumberland, 1778, vol. ii., Appendix, p. 14.
At Newcastle-upon-Tyne it was formerly usual on May-mornings for the young girls to sing these lines in the streets, at the same time gathering flowers:—
“Rise up, maidens, fie for shame!
For I’ve been four long miles from hame,
I’ve been gathering my garlands gay,
Rise up, fair maids, and take in your May!”—
Brand, Pop. Antiq. 1849, vol. i. p. 219.