queen of the may . 1944

the first of may. a time for young men and women to frolic or to engage in symbolic wrappings of long streamers around may poles. nathaniel hawthorne captured the depth of this tradition in his beautiful piece of writing "the maypole of merry mount" which you can read here on scribd.

a more current - well relatively current - rendering of the maypole festivities has been recently recdiscovered by the people at the british film institute. deeply immersed in a war with no apparent end in sight, the scenes in this film will have brought hope and an unimaginable degree of joy to a nation ravaged by trauma and sorrow. this film takes an unexpected and fascinating turn . . . well read the description provided by the providors of the footage . . .

"unseen for years due to the fragility of the materials, 'springtime in an english village' offers an extraordinary and unexpected snapshot of rural life in wartime. after a fairly predictable opening - farmers ploughing fields, cute baby animals gambolling - it finally gets down to business. the film is about that most ancient of english traditions: the selection and crowning of the queen of the may. but what is so surprising is that 60 years ago the village of stanion in northamptonshire chose to honour a young girl - apparently the daughter of an african merchant seaman who had been evacuated there during the war. consider the times and the cultural circumstances of those times to place this in context.

"it's hard to know quite how literally to take the proceedings. the film was made by the colonial film unit for the purpose of screening throughout britain's african and caribbean colonies - to demonstrate 'typical' life in the uk - at a time when the government was on the lookout for cheap labour."

regardless, it is a lovely and charming film from an england that exists only in the hearts, written word, and film of a time long past. have a look . . .