Last Wednesday, LEC shared some tips on habits to adopt during a language study trip to Germany or the US during Labor Day. Today, we’ve decided to dive back into this celebration but, as promised, with a slightly more British perspective. For everyone looking for the right things to do on May 1st during a language study trip to England, the answer is here!
Preparing for May Day Before Your Language Study Trip
If there’s one thing to keep in mind before heading off on your language study trip in May, it’s that in England, May 1 isn’t a holiday—it’s the Monday following that date, known as May Day. In other words, in 2013, that’s today!
It was in 1978 that the first Monday in May became a public holiday in England. And even though May Day celebrations aren’t as popular today as they once were, you’re likely to come across some fun and festive activities during your language study trip…
On the itinerary for the lucky participants' language study trip: Maypole and Morris dancing
Starting with the Maypole, the signature tradition of British May Day. People dance around a tree that has had its branches stripped off a few hours earlier. Some historians claim that the felling of this May tree symbolized the villagers’ right to cut wood freely.
During his language study trip to England, if you’re lucky, you might also come across a Morris dancing performance, a traditional form of Anglo-Saxon folk dance. Sticks, bells, and drums accompany these medieval dances, performed in the streets before the eyes of locals and wide-eyed foreign teenagers alike…