1889.] OJO [Moo icy. 



described by Kelly,* who identifies the rowan with the Sanskrit palasa, 

 which, according to the Vedas, sprang from a feather dropt by the fire 

 god Agni, who had assumed for a time the form of a falcon. This, again, 

 brings us back to the old fire worship. 



The old May dance is thus described by Lady "Wilde : " At the great 

 long dance, held in old times on ]May-day, all the people held hands and 

 danced round a great ]\Iay-bush erected on a mound. The circle some- 

 times extended for a mile, the girls wearing garlands and the young men 

 carrying wands of green boughs, while the elder people sat round on the 

 grass as spectators and applauded the ceremony. The tallest and strong- 

 est young men in the county stood in the centre and directed the move- 

 ments, while the pipers and harpers, wearing green and gold sashes, 

 played the most spirited dance tunes. "f This dance, equivalent to the 

 May-pole dance of England, has long been discontinued on Maj'-day, 

 altho a similar "long dance" is stil performd in the north around the fire 

 on Saint John's eve. 



At Finglas, near Dublin, there was formerly an annual May fair last- 

 ing several days, which was celebrated on a grand scale, and was attended 

 by great crowds from the city. The fair was presided over by a queen, 

 drest in gorgeous apparel and wearing on her head a royal crown, and 

 attended by a company of maids and courtiers arrayd in the same splendid 

 fashion. But the fair finally degenerated into an occasion of reckless 

 dissipation, so that it was discountenanced by the respectable citizens, 

 until, about fifty years ago, when the last queen died and the royal show 

 of Finglas came to an end.| This custom of a May queen, which does 

 not appear to hav existed elsewhere in Ireland, may hav been introduced 

 by the Danes, who for several centuries held possession of the country 

 about Dublin. 



The May boys ar an important feature of the celebration on this day, 

 especially in the west and south. Companies of young men and boys, 

 sometimes as many as a hundred or more together, drest up with ribbons 

 on the arms and shoulders, and gay sashes about the waist, and sometimes 

 wearing fantastic masks made of cloth or paper, march about the country, 

 headed by pipers and fiddlers, who ar often assisted by some of the com- 

 pany with improvised instruments. On coming to the house of a rich 

 farmer or gentleman they halt and sing May songs and perform a dance 

 to the sound of the music, receiving in return a treat or a small sum of 

 money. The dance is generally enlivened by the antics of a "fool," who 

 has his face smeard over with flour and wears a bladder for a skulcap, 

 while, at the end of a long pole, he carries another, with which he keeps 

 order among the noisy spectators. Another fantastic character, drest in 

 woman's clothes and known as the "ape," acts as assistant to the fool. 



Several of the May-day beliefs in relation to the dairy hav already been 



* Kelly, Folk-lore, 158-167. 

 t Lady Wilde, i, 195-6. 

 I Hall, Ireland, il, 345. 



