May Day Faerie Festival

Join the Rockton May Day Faerie Festival in a 1,000+ years old tradition of welcoming spring. Fantasy/renaissance/mystical creature attire welcome! A schedule of events can be found here.

What is May Day? May Day, or May Eve, is celebrated in Europe as a vestige of bygone days. Floralia, celebrated during the Roman Republic era, is the first known celebration of the midpoint between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice. Most of Northern Europe celebrated May Eve with bonfires during the Middle Ages. Gaelic Beltane and Welsh Calan Mai mainly focused on the symbolic use of fire to bless livestock as they moved to summer pastures. In the 19th century, cattle were made to jump over fires to protect their milk from being stolen by fairies. To this day, people still jump over fires on May Day. In Germanic countries, this became Walpurgis Night, commemorating the official canonization of Saint Walpurga on May 1, 870. As per many Christian holidays, the celebrations are a recapitulation of centuries old practices. Celebration of Spring is eternal. Mythic Welsh sovereign King Arthur (and Tudor heir apparent Queen Elizabeth I) has strong associations to May Day. In so keeping, Vanessa Redgrave performs Lusty Month of May in the Movie Musical Camelot.