Maypole on horseback!

[watervole]

 Thanks to sugoll for showing me this one.

Scroll to 1:19 in this 1920 Belgian film.

This one is interesting on a number of fronts.  Firstly (a purely technical one) the pole has two freely rotating heads - which is quite common on some modern poles.  I can set mine up that way if I choose.

Secondly, it shows maypole with ribbons in a country I hadn't previously encountered it in -I'm sure there must be others.

The date is in the same general period as Ruskin's introduction of maypole dancing with ribbons in the UK (but not earlier).  I'd love to know who came up with this concept originally.

Thirdly, I just love the retrofit of this kind of maypole into a 'medieval' style pageant - pure theatrical imagination!

Comments

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

Wow, this is an interesting find. I agree, this "horse Maypole" looks like an attractive scene. Very nice!

[nwhyte]

Samuel Pepys finds may-poles in The Hague in 1660:

http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1660/05/14/

But they can't be may-poles as we know them, since most houses appear to have one.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I suspect they would be a form of May garland. There were a lot of people (In England at least) who would go out very early and gather material for May garlands that they would then sell.

I imagine rich people had them made to order, though that is a guess on my part.

I wish Pepys had said more about the size. I wonder if they were just door height and decorated like garlands, or if they were flag pole size (still decorated, but clearly having a function beyond that of a May garland)

There's at least three forms of 'maypole' (I've just added your one to my mental list): decorative ones outside houses, public poles (often decorated) - both temporary and permanent but without long ribbons, and the form of the last century which is poles with long ribbons specifically for one kind of dancing.