Early May Bank Holiday
4 May 2026 · movable holiday — Jingle-jingle! The May dance begins, and the sky is our village green!
The Early May Bank Holiday is an official public holiday in the United Kingdom, held on the first Monday of May. It gives people a long weekend and is often linked with welcoming spring. In many places, old May traditions are still kept alive: maypoles are decorated, May queens are chosen, and Morris dancers take to the streets. They are folk dancers, often dressed in white, with bells on their legs and handkerchiefs or sticks, dancing in set patterns in streets and squares. The exact origin of the dance is not fully clear, but it has been remembered in England for centuries. The day also echoes ancient mid-spring celebrations, when days are long and bright and the nights grow steadily shorter towards summer. Because the date follows a rule, it changes every year and is usually a Monday (it has occasionally been moved, for example in 1995 and 2020). In 2026 it falls on 4 May.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver figure of a Morris dancer made of bright dots and fine lines, like a constellation, leaping across the night sky
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