May 1st is also called May Day. On this day, people celebrate the coming of summer with different customs that express happiness.

On May Day, people used to cut down young trees and stick them in the ground in the village to mark the arrival of summer. People danced around the tree poles in celebration of the end of winter and the start of the warm weather that would allow planting to begin. Maypoles were kept from one year to the next. The tallest maypole is said to have been erected in London on the Strand in 1661; it stood over 143 feet high.

Nowadays, people perform various maypole dances and schools practice skipping round the pole for weeks. The result should be a beautiful plaited pattern of ribbons round the pole, but it is not easy...