Wedding traditions offer richness and color to enrich your wedding ceremony and transform your life! And what’s more fun is that they can be redone to fit your life.

Consider the maypole. Despite its name, it can be appropriately danced through two entire wedding seasons: late spring and early summer! (It’s a bit chilly in early spring and the warmer weather later in the year makes us a little lazy for all that exercise!)

What is its traditional meaning? Fertility! The old traditions of northern Europe were not subtle. Spring came and they felt they needed to remind the world to wake up and do what is necessary. Fertility was one of the most important things for the survival of a people. They danced the maypole in the fields, because they needed the fields to be fertile. They needed their families to be fertile because large families could gather/raise more food and the infant mortality rate was around 50 percent.

But what does it mean to you? Well, certainly fertility if you will. There’s that tall pole and layers of people dancing, wrapping and unwrapping the pole. (wink, wink, nudge, nudge!) But it doesn’t take much imagination to realize that it could also mean the layers of love within which a community envelops a beloved couple.

Conceived.

• a dance teacher: Someone should know what’s going on and how to handle it!
• A wide open space: If you are going to involve your entire community, you should have plenty of space under the ribbons for the first two groups to dance.
• A high (very high) bar: If you are going to have three layers of dancers, the bar should be long and well secured at the base.
• pole decoration: The pole must be decorated at the top. If you have a symbol that you are using for your wedding, please include it. Make a wedding flower crown. The bride and groom can wear a smaller version of that crown.
• three layers of ribbons: The most external and abundant number of tapes would be the tapes of the community. The second layer of ribbons, a little further down the pole, would be the attendee ribbons. The third layer has only two ribbons for the couple.
• very very long ribbons: They must be at least 2 times longer than the post or the place where they are tied to the post. You may want them longer than normal because you want plenty of ends left when tied so they can cascade down the post. They should only be two or three inches wide.
• decorate the ribbons: You can decorate the ribbons with bells so that the wonderful sound (of the laughter of the fairies!) is heard with the fabric of the dance.
• Community He steps forward to take his ribbons and then returns to the circle, holding his ribbons at shoulder height.
• the assistants Pick up your ribbons and move as far as your streamers will take you.
• The couple enter the circle and collect their ribbons (of different colors). The music starts and looks in different directions, one couple going counter-clockwise (often the woman) and the other going sun-wise. The couple wrap, unwrap, and then wrap their pole, moving to an old folk song or Morris dance song. They weave over and under each other’s heads, turn by turn to get the correct pattern.
• When the pole is wrapped in bridal ribbons and the couple is close enough to the post to wrap themselves in each other’s arms. The attendees then begin their dance around the pole. Wrapping and unwrapping and wrapping again. Weaving above and below. Their ribbons should be different colors than the bridal couple for the symbolism of the surrounding community to begin.
• When attendees stand in a tight circle around the bridal couple, the community then begins to weave and unweave. They may only want to knit 4 rounds and then unknit 4 rounds and then knit until finished.
• When the community has been woven around the attendees and the couple, the wedding celebrant must offer a blessing. The dance master should then, beginning with the outermost circle, tie the ribbons while the community sends silent blessings to the couple.

You may have too many people to get it right, in which case you can select a smaller number of community members to wrap the post. But this joyous dance can add a lot of color to your wedding ceremony, support your wedding vows, and celebrate your marriage. (Oh, if you’re claustrophobic, don’t do this!) Try something new and enjoy! Your community wants to have a good time at your wedding. Why not leave them? And then, since you’ll have the materials, use them at the next couple’s wedding or bridal shower! Save it for a couple trying to get pregnant. Reuse, recycle, revise, and rededicate!