It was 5.30am at sunrise on the 1st May. People were up with the lark. Girls were singing and dancing, muscians playing, Morris Men with bells on their legs danced, words courtesy local novelist and poet, Laurie Lee, were delivered, lots of children and dogs too were all marking the beginning of summer high up on the Cotswold escarpment where we live.
May festivities were first recorded in Ancient Roman times. The Floralia - the Festival of Flora- took place at the end of April beginning of May in honour of the goddess of flowers, fertility and spring. It involved athletic games and theatrical performances.
In the British Isles the first day of May began to emerge as a day of feasting and dancing in towns and villages from the medieval period. A host of exuberant traditions developed to mark the day, now mainly forgotten. 
In Victorian and Edwardian times a May Queen was chosen, not many happy faces here! 
