There are several camps on that, as there nearly always are.
Because we do not have a lot of real evidence about customs practiced by common people in history (ballad and dance collectors can do only so much), there are a lot of folk scholars out there who sincerely believe that much of English folk "tradition" was invented by the Victorians, or certainly prettified and bowdlerised to the point of being unrecognisable. And then of course (filceolaire asks me to remind you) there were the puritans who tried to ban it all.
Pagan scholars point to existing and close history in places like Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, where there allegedly exist (or existed after WWII) small villages that adhered to many pagan customs, including Maypole customs not unlike the ones your friend describes. I say 'allegedly' because I have not seen the film footage that I hear exists of these practices. They think our English customs became watered down by time and cultural evolution, and that's a possibility as well.
And of course, there's every possible view in between, including the comforting idea that these customs have existed for a long time and continue to resurface and cannot be stomped out, no matter what scholars, the government, or Big Religion does to them.
There are examples of the same kind of cultural reinvention and movement all over the world, and all over the world there are nationalistic, religious, or cultural moves to stamp out folk custom that seems to be threatening to them.
English Maypole customs, like customs everywhere, is a mystery and will remain a mystery. There really are scholars out there who insist the Victorians made it all up and that it has no historical significance at all. There really are scholars out there who are positive it's one of those cultural icons that is planted so far back in our history that we'll never know its origins, and perhaps we don't need to. Village customs themselves, like your friend's, particularly in a history with no mass communication, change from village to village, particularly with geographical barriers in the way. One village might hold their big bonfire the night on May Eve, others might hold it on May Day night, and that's just a small change.
Either way, we can look at our traditions (and similar-but-different traditions in other countries) as proof positive that we have been a species of magic and wonder for a long, long time.
Having done a quick check with Wikipedia (assuming the references there are correct), there are records of British maypoles (sometime from court records) well before the Victorians. Back in the 1600s villages were stealing one another's poles.
(nothing about the custom of ribbon dancing, but I judge that to be a worthwhile tradition in its own right, whether it's ancient or modern -there are some similar Swedish customs)
Oh, no argument that maypoles have existed for a long time. The traditions themselves are more difficult to verify.
And no argument that both maypoles and ribbon dancing are worthwhile traditions. I am one of those people who believes that it's OK for traditions to be new. It's even OK to make it up as you go along, as long as you don't try to then tell people it's Ancient.
I didn't know about the maypole-stealing custom: that sounds like a hoot, and probably a good topic for a short story or a song, now I think about it!
My primary school (Hillview, in Bournemouth) used to do maypole dancing every spring. I remember loving it, though not everyone did I'm sure. Big metal clanging thing with lots of colourful ribbons, to the tune of an accordion. One of the teachers used to bring his Morris bunch along and we also did some square dances etc.. I don't think they do it any more, and once we moved up to secondary I discovered that enjoying such things was "weird".
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Because we do not have a lot of real evidence about customs practiced by common people in history (ballad and dance collectors can do only so much), there are a lot of folk scholars out there who sincerely believe that much of English folk "tradition" was invented by the Victorians, or certainly prettified and bowdlerised to the point of being unrecognisable. And then of course (
Pagan scholars point to existing and close history in places like Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, where there allegedly exist (or existed after WWII) small villages that adhered to many pagan customs, including Maypole customs not unlike the ones your friend describes. I say 'allegedly' because I have not seen the film footage that I hear exists of these practices. They think our English customs became watered down by time and cultural evolution, and that's a possibility as well.
And of course, there's every possible view in between, including the comforting idea that these customs have existed for a long time and continue to resurface and cannot be stomped out, no matter what scholars, the government, or Big Religion does to them.
There are examples of the same kind of cultural reinvention and movement all over the world, and all over the world there are nationalistic, religious, or cultural moves to stamp out folk custom that seems to be threatening to them.
English Maypole customs, like customs everywhere, is a mystery and will remain a mystery. There really are scholars out there who insist the Victorians made it all up and that it has no historical significance at all. There really are scholars out there who are positive it's one of those cultural icons that is planted so far back in our history that we'll never know its origins, and perhaps we don't need to. Village customs themselves, like your friend's, particularly in a history with no mass communication, change from village to village, particularly with geographical barriers in the way. One village might hold their big bonfire the night on May Eve, others might hold it on May Day night, and that's just a small change.
Either way, we can look at our traditions (and similar-but-different traditions in other countries) as proof positive that we have been a species of magic and wonder for a long, long time.
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(nothing about the custom of ribbon dancing, but I judge that to be a worthwhile tradition in its own right, whether it's ancient or modern -there are some similar Swedish customs)
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And no argument that both maypoles and ribbon dancing are worthwhile traditions. I am one of those people who believes that it's OK for traditions to be new. It's even OK to make it up as you go along, as long as you don't try to then tell people it's Ancient.
I didn't know about the maypole-stealing custom: that sounds like a hoot, and probably a good topic for a short story or a song, now I think about it!
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Do you go to Wimborne Folk Festival? 13-15 June - always excellent fun!