You've heard of a Christmas tree — how about a May bush?

Ainsley Hawthorn · For CBC N.L.

· Posted: May 04, 2025 8:30 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

Take a thrust on the Avalon Peninsula's Cape Shore oregon Killick Coast this May, and you whitethorn travel upon an unfamiliar benignant of vacation tree: a spruce oregon fir, stripped of its little boughs truthful that lone a tuft is near astatine the top, which is decked retired successful bluish ribbons.

You mightiness wonderment if it's immoderate benignant of straggler from the Christmas holidays, but this festive evergreen has its ain agelong contented connected the island.

Called May bushes, May trees, oregon May poles, depending connected the community, these decorations customarily went up connected May 1, and stayed up for the remainder of the month. 

They're a vestige of the May Day celebrations that were erstwhile communal crossed Northern Europe. 

Heralding the coming of summertime and the opening of the cultivation season, May 1 was an accidental to rejoice successful the renewal of the Earth aft a long, acold winter. Merrymakers gathered wildflowers, lit bonfires, and, successful immoderate areas, selected a queen of May to preside implicit their revels. 

The cornerstone of astir May Day festivities was the May pole, a gangly woody station strung with garlands oregon ribbons. 

The May rod often served arsenic the centrepiece of a ellipse dance, though the mentation you mightiness person seen successful films — where dancers clasp the ends of streamers attached to the rod and ellipse astir it until the ribbons are coiled each the mode to the basal — probably wasn't invented until the 19th century. 

Despite their scenic charm, May poles weren't universally admired. Protestant reformers were harsh critics of exuberant holidays similar May Day, which they suspected of having pagan origins.

In a 1644 ordinance "for the amended reflection of the Lords-Day," the Puritan-majority British parliament — the aforesaid parliament that would aboriginal outlaw Christmas — banned May poles, calling them "a Heathenish vanity, mostly abused to superstition and wickedness." 

Their usage wasn't reinstated successful the United Kingdom until the restoration of the monarchy successful 1660. 

A Newfoundland bush with Irish roots

A mentation of the May rod made its mode to Newfoundland with the immigrants who sailed from southeast Ireland successful the precocious 17th and 18th centuries. 

In Ireland, May bushes are decorated connected May Day oregon May Eve — April 30 — with caller flowers, ribbons, and painted eggshells saved from Easter. Typically, either a hawthorn oregon gorse is chosen arsenic the shrub of honour, since some plants angiosperm successful the period of May.

According to Irish folklorists Michael Fortune and Aileen Lambert, authors of The May Bush successful County Wexford, May Day — called Bealtaine successful Gaelic — was a "turning constituent successful the twelvemonth erstwhile 'the fairies' were out." It was besides the opening of the increasing season, erstwhile it was captious to support newborn livestock and precocious sown crops. 

The May bush was intended to support the fae folk, witches, and thing other that mightiness harm the coming year's harvest distant from the homestead. 

Roman Catholicism, the ascendant religion successful southeast Ireland, took a antithetic attack to these May festivities than England's Puritans. Instead of forbidding them, the religion absorbed them. 

At the extremity of the 18th century, frustrated by the misbehaviour of his students, Jesuit Father Latomia successful Rome decreed that the period of May should beryllium devoted to the Virgin Mary arsenic a mode to promote chastity and virtue. This May observance soon dispersed to Roman Catholic parishes astir the world.

In some Ireland and Newfoundland, Catholics acceptable up May altars to Mary successful their homes. Mary became the existent queen of the May, and the section May queen simply her typical connected Earth.

At St. Bride's College (Littledale) successful St. John's, students adjacent chose a "Mary" alternatively of a May queen to pb their May procession.

In Newfoundland communities similar Torbay, Middle Cove, Riverhead and Point Lance, the May bush besides became consecrated to Mary. May bushes were decorated specifically successful blue, a colour that's been associated with the Virgin since astatine slightest the sixth century, and a statue of Mary was occasionally acceptable up alongside them. 

While the accepted Newfoundland May bush was an evergreen stripped of its little limbs and tied to a obstruction station to support it upright, contiguous immoderate similar to simply decorate a surviving histrion oregon shrub successful their yard, and the candles that erstwhile adorned immoderate Irish May bushes person been replaced by fairy lights.

Come June, May bushes are either taken down oregon their bluish ribbons are replaced with reddish ones, transforming the "May tree" into a "June tree" in honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In Roman Catholicism, June is the period and reddish the colour of the Sacred Heart, which represents Jesus' emotion for humanity. 

According to researcher Lara Maynard, May bushes present were erstwhile erected for luck similar they were successful Ireland, but the customized is kept live contiguous mostly arsenic a spiritual observance oregon household tradition. 

Perhaps that's because, successful Newfoundland, May Day is inactive a spot aboriginal to beryllium reasoning astir agriculture and the information of the adjacent year's harvest. 

Seeds shouldn't beryllium sown outdoors until precocious May oregon June, truthful May 1 can hardly beryllium called the opening of summer. Based connected the upwind we've had successful April, we'll beryllium fortunate if it doesn't snowfall this May.

But, if it does, our section May bush contented has a solution: astatine the extremity of the month, you tin pain the bush successful your wood stove for heat. 

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