Nottinghamshire.
The May-day customs observed in this county are in many respects similar to those of other counties, but Nottinghamshire has the honour of being the parent of most of the happy sports which characterise this joyous period of the year, from the fact of most of the May-day games having had their origin in the world famous Robin Hood, whose existence and renown are so intimately connected with this district. His connection with “Merry Sherwood” and the Sheriff of Nottingham have been universal themes for centuries; and these and the “Miller of Mansfield” and the “Wise Men of Gotham” have done more towards making this county famous than all the rest of the ballads and popular literature put together. Maypoles and morris-dances were formerly very general, and the characters of Robin Hood, Little John, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, and the Hobby-horse were well sustained. The maypoles were sometimes very elegantly ornamented, and surmounted by flags and streamers of various colours. One was not many years ago remaining by Hucknall Folkard, and at the top were portions of the ironwork and decorations still in being. The morris-dance was unquestionably one of the most popular of the many games incident to this season, and was very generally prevalent throughout this county, and many are the ballads dedicated to its observance. The following is of 1614:—
“It was my hap of late by chance
To meet a country morris-dance,
When, chiefest of them all the foole
Plaid with a ladle and a toole;
When every younker shak’t his hels,
And fine Maid Marian with her smoile,
Showed how a rascal plaid the voile,
And when the hobby horse did wihy,
Then all the wenches gave a tihy,” &c.
May-day, although a day of general holiday and rejoicing, is nevertheless considered, as is the whole of the month, unlucky for marriage, and few are celebrated on this day; more weddings being hastened, so as to be over before this day, than postponed until June. This does not apply to divinations for future partners, for in some parts of the county it is usual to prepare a sweet mixture on the first of May, composed of new milk, cakes, wine, and spice, and for the assembled company to fish with a ladle for a ring and a sixpence, which have been dropped into the bowl; the young man who gains the ring and the young woman the sixpence being supposed to be intended for each other.—Jour. of Arch. Assoc. 1853, vol. viii. p. 234.
Oxfordshire.
Previous to the Reformation a requiem mass is said to have been performed every May-morning at an early hour on the top of Magdalen tower, Oxford, for the repose of the soul of Henry VII., who had honoured that college with a visit in 1486-7. The choristers continue to execute in the same place, at five o’clock in the morning of the same day, certain pieces of choir-music, for which service the rectory of Slimbridge in Gloucestershire pays the yearly sum of £10. The ceremony has encouraged the notion that Henry contributed to the erection of the tower, but his only recorded act of favour to the college is the confirmation of its claim to the rectory charged with the annual payment.
The following hymn is sung on the occasion of this ceremony:
“Te Deum Patrem colimus,
Te laudibus prosequimur,
Qui corpus cibo reficis
Cœlesti mentem gratia.
Te adoramus, O Jesu!
Te, Fili unigenite!
Te, qui non dedignatus es
Subire claustra Virginis.
Actus in crucem factus es,
Irato Deo victima;
Per te, Salvator unice,
Vitæ spes nobis rediit.