May Bush
With county wide travel allowed in recent weeks, it was nice to be able to visit beautiful South Carlow and enjoy cycling routes along the Barrow and under the Blackstairs.
I noticed a revival of an old tradition with the decoration of the May Bush. It seems to have been revived in County Wexford in recent times and is now catching on in the south of the County. Below are a few of the examples I came across in the past few days.
As with much of our traditions, it appears to have its origins in Pagan rituals as much as Christian traditions and some suggest they are to provide sacred protection against the fairies who are very active around May Day! Another theory associated it with the start of summer and in more recent times are linked to honour the Virgin Mary.
Here is a great post about the traditions on The Fading Year blog which I just came across: https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/101579329/posts/5845
