Maypoles and Earth Mothers.

Authors :: Klein, Richard M.
Source :: Natural History. May76, Vol. 85 Issue 5, p4. 3p.
Publication Year :: 1976
Abstract: Traces the antecedents of rites of spring in the United States. Young girls' performance of the Maypole dance; Worship of trees as symbols of goddesses of fertility in ancient Asia Minor; Performance of dances and orgies around the tree; Pagan spring ritual in ancient Rome; Sanitizing of the celebration in England and North American by the beginning of the 17th century.