Drawing near to the merry month of May.
&c. &c.
In the Halliwell-Phillipps’ version each verse ends with
“Oh this is pleasant singing,
Sweet May flower is springing,
And summer comes so fresh, green, and gay.”
In Chester and surrounding villages the children still carry round May garlands, and generally a small child bedecked with ribbons, but the old May songs are no longer used.
At Knutsford a May Queen is annually chosen and crowned in public. This village has many curious and pretty customs. On the occasion of a marriage there, brown sand was strewn in the streets, and on this, fanciful figures of white sand and sometimes the flowers of the season were added.
LIFTING
Hone says that the custom of Lifting was prevalent in Chester, but that instead of being tossed in the air, the victims were swung about in a chair.