Bedfordshire May Carols
Do you remember the episode of the podcast on the most haunted pub in Biggleswade? If you’ve missed it you can find it here. In that episode ghostly singing is heard coming from the bar. As the singing was rumoured to sound old fashioned I decided to record a ghostly voice singing a Bedfordshire May Carol.
May carols it appears were popular up until around 100 years ago, though they are gaining popularity with folk musicians again. Like a Christmas carol these were songs, sung during May and in particular around May day and Whitsun.
Maying
There was an old tradition of Maying dating back to medieval times where young men and women would spend the night of 30th April to 1st May outdoors, collecting May blossom, singing and then celebrating May during the day of the 1st. But according to “The anatomie of abuses” by Phillip Stubbs in 1583 this was no innocent folk tradition as he explains here:
“Against May, Whitsonday or other time, all the yung men and maides, olde men and wives run godding over night to the woods, groves, hils & mountains, where they spend all the night in plesant pastimes, & in the morning they return bringing with them birch & branches of trées, to deck their assemblies … and Lord over their pastimes and sportes, namely, Satan prince of hel,
But the cheifest jewel they bring from thence is their May-pole, which they bring home with great veneration, as thus. They have twen∣tie or fortie yoke of Oxen, every Oxe having a swéet nose-gay of floures placed on the tip of his hornes, and these Oxen drawe home this May-pole (this stinking Idol rather) which is covered all over with floures, and hearbs bound round about with strings from the top to the bottome, and sometime painted with variable colours, with two or thrée hū∣dred men, women and children following it with great devotion. And thus béeing reased up, with handkerchéefs and flags hovering on the top, they straw the ground rounde about, binde green boughes about it, set up sommer havles, bowers and arbors hard by it. And then fall they to dance about it like as the heathen people did at the dedication of the Idols.
I have heard it credibly reported (and that, viua voce) by men of great gravitie and reputation, that of fortie, thréescore, or a hundred maides going to the wood over night, there have scaresly the third part of them returned home againe undefiled.”1
Stubbs is writing religious propaganda here, the sort of puritanism that will catch on and thrive in the 17th century. But clearly back in the 16th century May celebrations were very much enjoyed by many in the countryside. I love the image of the oxen with flowers on their horns. And still to this day in many villages May poles are erected and danced around. I took part in such a celebration, dancing around the May Pole in 1984 at Henlow village.
The nearest celebration to Biggleswade is at Ickwell. You can see images and read about Ickwell’s May traditions here: https://www.ickwellmayday.co.uk/
May Carols
Music and dance was clearly part of the celebrations and May carols were songs saved specially for this time of year. I’ve only found examples of May carols in Bedfordshire, South Cambridgeshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. Though I am guessing more counties had their versions of these songs.
The May carols that survive appear to be similar in nature, one from Oxfordshire seems to follow a very similar pattern to the Bedfordshire May carol I used in the Most Haunted Pub in Biggleswade episode. Although these carols appear to have been Christianised with mention of God there are also versions that leave god out all together. Below are a selection of videos and further reading about the Bedfordshire May Carols. It’s unusual for Bedfordshire to have anything folklore related that’s unique so these carols are a rare and treasured thing.
There’s a great video here including Margery “Mum” Johnson singing and talking about Bedfordshire May Carols: https://www.facebook.com/659803634/videos/10150722131758635
And a blog with further information: https://terreceltiche.altervista.org/bedfordshire-may-day-carols/
There is a video from English Heritage at Wrest Park all about the Bedfordshire May Carol here:
This is a lovely version played in Bedford at dawn on May Day some years back:
Podcast News
I hope you enjoyed that May Day exploration of a unique type of folk song associated with Bedfordshire. Now for some news!
Join the Patreon! Get access to exclusive bonus episodes!
That’s right many of you have asked for a Patreon and during the podcast’s one year anniversary live stream I launched the show Patreon.
Don’t worry if you missed the live stream you can still catch it here on YouTube. I talked about my stay in one of York’s haunted houses including playing some of the strange noises I heard in the night there. Some viewers thought they could hear a voice. What do you think? Do let me know.
What’s Patreon?
Patreon is a site set up for people who create stuff, like podcasts. Weird in the Wade now has a Patreon site where you can either sign up for free to read extra information and see posts about the podcast. Or for a small monthly fee currently £3.50 a month, you get access to a monthly bonus episode exclusive to Patreon subscribers. Some of these episodes may be released to the main podcast but no sooner than 9 months after they appear exclusively. There’ll also be regular Q&As, Live events, exclusive merchandise and more. So if you’d like to support the podcast regularly you can now for the price of a coffee each month.
This will really help me keep the podcast going and the money raised will be ploughed back into making the podcast.
What are the costs of making a podcast?
Well I currently pay a yearly subscription to publish the podcast on Podbean. I also pay an annual subscription to use music and sound effects from Epidemic Sound. Both of these expenses roll around in May. Then there’s the costs of equipment I’ve invested in, though the software I use is free! I currently use Audacity. I also incur expenses for travel even locally many locations I plan to record in are not accessible by public transport and being visually impaired I then rely on taxis. Then there’s the books and materials I use for researching the podcast including a subscription to old newspaper archives. It all adds up. I also like to offer my guests payment. Some are happy with a cuppa and cake, but I want to be able to pay people properly for their time.
And I don’t even dare calculate how much time I’m devoting to making the podcast!
It all does add up. So having a Patreon is a great way to get support whilst also giving something extra back.
Patreon Bonus Episodes
The first patreon bonus episode will be released in mid May and will be all about the Treasurer’s House in York, which I visited back in April when I was on my haunted house challenge. If you want to hear all about my visit as well as a retelling of various infamous ghost stories associated with the building all you need to do is to sign up to the Patreon! Every month there will be a different bonus episode.
Are their other ways to support the podcast?
Yes there are loads of ways to support the podcast here are some:
- Telling your friends and family about Weird in the Wade
- Reviewing and rating Weird in the Wade where you listen
- Follow Weird in the Wade on social media
- Buy the podcast a coffee with Ko-fi
- Buy some Weird in the Wade merch from the shop
- Join the Patreon
- I’ve tidied up some of the spelling for ease of reading but left this pretty much intact. You can read all of Stubb’s pamphlet here: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A13086.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext#fnDLPS399 ↩︎
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