124/366 Rites of May

The 1st of May is a public holiday here and quite full of different meanings. It's Labour Day if you're a worker, a Marian holiday if you're Catholic, and Lovers' Day if you're courting. 

In parts of the country, especially the countryside, the latter meaning is often kept by erecting May Poles in the village centre and village feasts. 

A more private tradition, that is keeping up well in town, too, though, is the May Tree for your girl. The idea is that the hopeful lad goes off to cut a young birch tree in the night before May Day, decorates it with ribbons and puts it up outside the house of his beloved to show her his devotion. 

Nowadays, going off and cutting young trees is of course discouraged, so they are often sold, or you see what are clearly just branches taken from (hopefully) the giver's own garden. Still, the tradition remains very popular and you can hardly walk a hundred metres without coming across a May Tree.