'Raising the May Pole', c1862. Artist: E Goodall.

---

'Raising the May Pole', c1862. Men haul the pole into position for May Day, an annual European tradition thought to have originated as a pagan fertility rite. Young women dance and wind ribbons around the phallic pole, erected around 1 May or at Midsummer.

---

Size: 5250px × 3162px
Location:
Photo credit: © The Print Collector/Heritage Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: &, /, 19th, annual, black, britain, british, century, collector, concept, countryside, custom, dance, dancing, edward, engraving, female, fertility, frederick, goodall, guy, lady, location, male, man, maypole, men, monochrome, month, nineteenth, pagan, paganism, people, phallic, print, religion, religious, season, summer, symbol, tradition, village, white, woman, women