May 1st is a Big Deal in Oxford. For over 500 years crowds have been gathering before 6am at the foot of Magdalen College tower to hear the choir sing to welcome Spring. Afterwards, there is singing and dancing in the streets as people gather to celebrate. Some, in fact, have been celebrating for hours as many pubs and parties stay going all night long and more than a few people on the streets have not slept at all. This year for 2026 there were over 18,000 people participating, that nearly unimaginable for the small streets of Oxford.
May 1st is, of course, also known as Beltane, the Celtic holiday celebrating the start of Summer. The Celts broke the year into two halves starting with Samhain on October 31/November 1, and Beltane on April 30/May 1. They measured the day the same way they measured the year, with the dark half preceding the bright half, so new days start at sundown. It certainly seems likely that the tradition of welcoming the change of season at least echos, if not traces, these earlier traditions.
May Morning Oxford notes that there is evidence of reveries going back much further, in 1250 the Chancellor of Oxford University forbad ‘alike in churches, all dancing in masks or with disorderly noises, and all processions of men wearing wreaths and garlands made of leaves of trees or flowers or what not.’ Note that he’s concerned with men, one assumes because women weren’t under his purview as no women attended the university until the 20th century!
I don’t get up for the 6am choir anymore. I’ve done it many times, but these days I find the shoulder to shoulder crowds a bit overwhelming. I prefer when the crowd disperses and groups gather here and there for music and dancing. My favourite area is on the steps of the Clarendon building. A few dozens musicians play traditional folk songs whilst a flower and ivy garlanded crowd gathers to sway, dance or occasionally join in on the songs.
Over the years, it’s probably become my favourite holiday. There is nothing commercialised about it. It’s a celebration of Spring, Summer, Life, Flowers, Trees, Folklore, History, Music, Singing, Dancing, and all things Green and Fecund and Fruitful.
