A lot of you will probably remember doing this at school. It is a tradition that goes way back to around the 14th Century. In those times a tall straight tree was selected from a wood or estate and brought into the village for use as a maypole. They cut the branches off, just leaving a few at the top. Sometimes it was ceremoniously hauled to the village green by a team of oxen whose horns were decorated with flowers.
Originally there were no ribbons involved, and local folk would just dance around the tree. The ribbons and more choreographed dance patterns were added at a later date.
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