The Lustleigh May Day is an annual

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...

celebration in the village of

Lustleigh Lustleigh is a small village and civil parish in the Wray Valley, inside the Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England. It is between the towns of Bovey Tracey and Moretonhampstead. The village has often been named in various publications as be ...

, Devon. It involves the traditional

maypole A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European List of folk festivals, folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place. The festivals may occur on May Day, 1 May or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some co ...

dancing, as well as the crowning of a

May Queen In the British Isles and parts of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, the May Queen or Queen of May is a personification of the May Day holiday of 1 May, and of Spring (season), springtime and the coming growing season. The May Queen is a ...

from the eligible girls of the village. It is generally held on the first Saturday of May.

History

The tradition of going "a-maying" is long held in the United Kingdom, with the association of collecting fresh flowers to crown the "fairest maiden in the village", and dancing round the

is also a tradition linked to the coming of spring. The current version of this was revived by

Cecil Torr Cecil Torr (11 October 1857, Mitcham, London – 17 December 1928) was a British antiquarian and author. Early life Torr was the son of a solicitor and was educated at Harrow School. Cecil Torr matriculated on 7 June 1876 at Trinity College, Camb ...

of Wreyland in 1905, with children parading through the village to Long Tor farm, on a hill above the village, for maypole dancing and traditional fete games such as

bowling for a pig Bowling for a pig was a traditional British competition, usually held at country fêtes, fairs, and carnivals. It was a form of bowling as a test of skill, with the highest scorer(s) winning the prize. The traditional prize was a live pig to take ...

. This corrected what Torr saw as an anomaly of the village children doing maypole dancing at the flower show and other village events, but not actually on May Day. The event was originally held on the second Thursday, being during the week to allow the school children of the village school to take part. From at least the 1950s, the event was moved to a Saturday. The 1959 May Queen, Christine Moore, fell from the rock following her crowning. There is also a long tradition of morris dancing accompanying the event. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the in-person event had to be cancelled, and a virtual May Day was held. The May Queen was crowned in person along with the 2021 and 2022 queens during the 2022 event.

May day rock and throne

Part of the Lustleigh celebration is the carving of the name of the May Queen on to a granite boulder in the field. The names of all the May Queens from 1905 to the second world war are carved on the rock at Long Tor, on the hill above

's house at Wreyland. Following the post-war revival, the event moved to the Town Orchard in the village centre, where a new rock was carved, and all May Queens from 1954 to present are engraved upon it. On top of the granite boulder in the orchard is a granite throne, carved to celebrate the millennium and bearing the 'MM' mark.

Participants and format

The children who take part are from the village, or connected to it, and are aged between 5 and 15. The parade takes place with the May Queen leading the procession around the village underneath a canopy of flowers carried by other children, before returning to the May Day rock throne for crowning.

May Queens

The May Queens since the revival in 1905 were:

References

{{Reflist Spring (season) Recurring events established in 1905 1905 establishments in England Festivals in Devon Annual fairs Fairs in England May Culture in Devon Dartmoor Festivals established in 1905 Annual events in England