Guest Author - Holly Webster

The May Day celebrations of spring with its May Pole are traditions celebrating fertility that are a thousand years old.

The tree has always been a symbol of fertility in various cultures, and the tall pole cut from the tree stuck in the center of a town was a powerful phallic symbol. Boys and girls of childbearing age would weave flowers and ribbons around the pole, singing and dancing, celebrating life and the arrival of spring.

Just about every culture had a spring festival to celebrate fertility and childbearing. and the may pole was but one part of these celebrations.