Happy May Day!

Today is May Day, and in Oxford it creates quite a fuss. We were up at 4:30 a.m. to organize ourselves to walk to Magdalen College, where the choir traditionally sings from the tower at 6:00 a.m. on May Day. Unfortunately, the size of the crowd, as well as the crowd control tactics of the local police, made it impossible to get close enough to really see and hear the choir. We could hear them in the distance, and we could see them (vaguely) around the top of the tower, but we couldn’t get a truly good look.

The choir in the tower

A policeman at the barriers said that the first 8,000 people were allowed into the street nearer the tower, and that then access was shut off. The Oxford May Day celebration is a centuries-old tradition, and in the old days the students (who have in many cases been up all night) gathered on the Magdalen Bridge, with many of them eventually jumping off the bridge and into the Cherwell River. These days, the bridge is closed off (apparently, there were many injuries due to the jumping). One man at the barricades was shouting out the name of the local councilor, asking people to write her to protest what he saw as an abridgement of personal freedom in the crowd control tactics. We can at least say we’ve seen the spectacle.

After checking out the scene at Magdalen, we walked back into the city centre, where the bells of the old St. Mary’s church were pealing nonstop for a time. We watched (and listened to) some interesting bands (one decked out in May Day costumes with flowery hats, cloaks, and such) and several troupes of Morris dancers (Morris dance is an English folk tradition dating from the late 15th century and involves choreographed dancing in traditional costumes and using such props as colorful scarves and wooden sticks). The Morris dancers were scheduled to slowly make their way through the city, moving out to other neighborhoods through the day. A few interesting characters moved through the crowds in rather unorthodox costumes—One person, for instance, was dressed as a tree or shrub, and another was apparently the Oxford ox.



May Day Dancers


Morris Dancers

The Ox and the May Day Tree (Shrub?)

Many of the city centre pubs and cafés were open, some as early as 5:30, for May Day breakfast. We went down the narrow alley to the Chequers Pub, where we had tea and a traditional hot English breakfast. After breakfast we watched some more dancers before heading home. We spent the rest of the morning napping, and had a lazy May Day afternoon at home before going back to the city centre for an early dinner at Edamame, a delightful little family-run Japanese restaurant. Edamame is a tiny place that doesn’t take reservations; the best strategy is to be in line when they open at 5:00, which is what we did today. It was a delightful way to top off a pleasant festival day in Oxford—unlike any other May Day we’ve experienced.