• May Day is an ancient holiday on which people in the Northern Hemisphere celebrated the beginning of summer. Although the holiday has come to mean different things in different countries, the ancient tradition of the maypole dance is still observed by some people in North America and Europe. The maypole dance varies from country to country and in North America, the dance is usually fairly informal and is often performed by children.

• According to European tradition and depending on the specific country, the maypole may have been made of a specific type of wood cut to a determined length. However, in the modern U.S., there are no hard and fast rules regarding the material or length of the maypole. As long as it's sturdy, solidly secured in the ground and at least eight feet tall, it should work fine. If you want, you can decorate the pole with ribbons, flowers, tree boughs and other adornments in the spirit of the season.

• Your next step to prepare for the dance is to affix some ribbons to the pole. There are two ways to do so:

1. If your dance will include wrapping and braiding the ribbons around the pole, you will need to securely attach the ribbons to the top of the pole
2. If you will simply be dancing around the pole without wrapping the ribbons around the pole, attach a spinning ring decorated with ribbons to to top of the pole

• Since maypole dancing is an ancient tradition and was practiced differently in different countries, there are no longer any definitive rules to how you must dance around the maypole. The most important idea is to have fun and celebrate with your fellows. Music is typically a slow to moderately paced folk music, but you can play anything you like.

Some different ways of maypole dancing:

1. All the dancers hold hands and dance in a circle around the maypole
2. Holding ribbons that are attached to a spinning ring on top of the pole, dancers skip in a circle around the pole
3. Holding ribbons that are securely fastened to the top of the maypole, dancers dance or skip in a circle around the maypole, wrapping their ribbons around the pole. Once the ribbons are wrapped around the pole, dancers change direction to unwrap them
4. Holding ribbons that are securely fastened to the top of the maypole, half the dancers kneel down while the other half hold their ribbons high above their head. The standing dancers skip around the maypole twice and then kneel down. The dancers that were kneeling during the first two rounds stand up, hold their ribbons above their heads, and then dance around the maypole twice in the opposite direction of the previous dancers. Repeat this procedure as many different times as required to braid the ribbons around the maypole
5. There are countless variations on #4 above— dancers can vary the directions in which they dance, the amount of times they skip around the maypole and which dancers are kneeling or standing. Experiment with different methods of braiding different ribbons around the pole, or see if the dancers can successfully navigate their way out of a braid once they have wrapped their ribbons around pole