Welcoming summer.

[saxonaxe]

Every year for many years a festival has been held in a town near to where I live, so this year I decided to brave the holiday crowds and attend. It's 'Jack in the Green' and celebrates the ending of Spring and the beginning of Summer and coincides with the Celtic festival of Beltane. A Queen of the May is crowned and people dance the old dances and generally have a good time...

Young and old..:D

http://i.imgur.com/XgreXoRl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/G0FPJaDl.jpg

Many of the local Pagans attend as families and today the streets of the town were full of green nippers..:D

http://i.imgur.com/fhw3jgLl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/KvdG2bxl.jpg

Happily, commercialism hasn't yet hijacked the festival and it's still very much something that local people organise themselves.

http://i.imgur.com/XzV2VSWl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/RduYAVYl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/1YLpF4Gl.jpg

The long procession assembles by the old net sheds at the Fishermen's end of town and winds it's way through the streets.

http://i.imgur.com/f3s7GwSl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/1M6bEMHl.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/VeGsHLul.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/MbTJSsnl.jpg

And over it all flys the white Dragon of Saxon England..:happy-clapping:

http://i.imgur.com/3Jdx8tol.jpg..

The website that hosts my photos is throwing a tantrum, so I'll post some woodland tales at a later date.

Hello to all those who joined while I was a wandering. :)

[Rasputin]

Good to see you back John, we have a similar festival in my neck of the woods called the green man festival https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nef8GCfOJvE I think it was fairly commonplace years ago in most villages. I await your woodlands tales with bated breath :rolleyes: and this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xMXYYQXDTA Great photos as usual

[jus_young]

It's always good to see the old traditions still going strong. All too many of them fall foul of a lack in volunteers and commercial trife.

[Blood]

Big fan if such events though I've only managed to find and travel to two in the last few years.
I have an endearing view of the green man and the Ash tree, one of my sons is named Ash. Real nice to see these event flourishing

[OakAshandThorn]

T^ Great to see the Béaltaine celebrations on your side of the water :D. Of course, if all that was done here, the hardcore Catholics would be up-in-arms. And to think that at one time, May Day was more popular than Christmas in the Colonies...
Summer sure snuck up on us fast, though - we've had hard rains last week (including one heck of a thunderstorm which really made everything come to life), and temps have risen nearly to 32 C :eek:.