#may morning

Dorothy Dandridge in Oxford for May Morning

(Carl Mydans. 1956?)

01.05.20 // On the morning of 1st of May, Magdalen College, Oxford, hosts their choir at the top of the Great Tower to sing Eucharists and madrigals in a 500-year old tradition. The singing starts at 6am, so there are parties all night the night before, and beers on the bridge by 5am. After the singing finishes, the Green Man marches through the centre of the crowds, the pipes and fiddles start up and the Morris dancing starts! The clash of traditions on what’s essentially a spring festival is pretty magical.

Obviously, this year none of this is going to happen. The college choir will be streaming a lockdown-edition performance at https://www.magdalencollegechoir.com/ , but there’ll be no ales for breakfast and no fiddle music and I’m so sad about this. This photo was taken at last year’s celebrations. I hope we’ll all make up for lost celebrations once this is all over!

Augusto Giacometti (1877-1947, Swiss) ~  May Morning, 1910

[Source: artvee.com]