Editing Maypole (section)

==Symbolism==

English historian [[Ronald Hutton]] concurs with Swedish scholar [[Carl Wilhelm von Sydow]] who stated that maypoles were erected "simply" as "signs that the happy season of warmth and comfort had returned."<ref name="Hutton2001">{{harvnb|Hutton|1996|pages=[https://archive.org/details/stationsofsunhis0000hutt/page/233 233–235]}}</ref> Their shape allowed for [[garland]]s to be hung from them and were first seen, at least in the British Isles, between AD 1350 and 1400 within the context of medieval Christian [[European culture]].<ref name="Hutton2001" /> In 1588, at Holy Trinity Church in [[Exeter]], villagers gathered around the 'summer rod' for feasting and drinking.<ref name="Hutton2001" /> [[Chaucer]] mentions that a particularly large maypole stood at [[St Andrew Undershaft]], which was collectively erected by church parishioners annually due to its large shape.<ref name="Hutton2001" />

The symbolism of the maypole has been continuously debated by folklorists for centuries, although no definitive answer has been found. Some scholars classify maypoles as symbols of the world axis ([[axis mundi]]). The fact that they were found primarily in areas of Germanic Europe, where, prior to Christianisation, [[Germanic paganism]] was followed in various forms, has led to speculation by some that the maypoles were in some way a relic of a Germanic pagan tradition. One theory holds that they were a remnant of the Germanic reverence for sacred trees, as there is evidence for various sacred trees and wooden pillars that were venerated by the pagans across much of Germanic Europe, including [[Thor's Oak]] and the [[Irminsul]].<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of Pagan Europe |first1=Prudence |last1=Jones |first2=Nigel |last2=Pennick |publisher=Routledge |date=1997 |isbn=978-0-415-15804-6 |page=119}}</ref> Ronald Hutton, however, states that "there is absolutely no evidence that the maypole was regarded as a reflection of it."<ref name="Hutton2001" /> It is also known that, in [[Norse paganism]], [[cosmology|cosmological]] views held that the universe was a [[world tree]], known as [[Yggdrasil]].<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://archive.org/details/B-001-002-204 |title=Article VII: Sacred Trees and Flowers |journal=[[Quarterly Review]] |volume=114 |number=227 |first=Theodore |last=Foster |date=July 1863 |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]] |page=[https://archive.org/details/B-001-002-204/page/n311 224]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The History of Religions |first=Hopkins Edward |last=Washburn |publisher=The MacMillan Company |date=1928 |page=166 |oclc=22206140}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=European Paganism |first=Ken |last=Dowden |author-link=Ken Dowden |publisher=Routledge |date=2000 |isbn=978-0-415-12034-0 |page=119}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Nart sagas from the Caucasus: myths and legends from the Circassians, Abazas, Abkhaz, and Ubykhs |first=John |last=Colarusso |author-link=John Colarusso |publisher=Princeton University Press |date=2002 |isbn=978-0-691-02647-3 |page=102}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The early history and antiquities of Freemasonry: as connected with ancient Norse guilds, and the oriental and mediæval building fraternities |url=https://archive.org/details/earlyhistoryand00fortgoog |first=George Franklin |last=Fort |publisher=Bradley |date=1881 |page=[https://archive.org/details/earlyhistoryand00fortgoog/page/n369 361] |oclc=4894059}}</ref>

Some observers have proposed [[phallic]] symbolism, an idea which was expressed by [[Thomas Hobbes]], who erroneously believed that the poles dated back to the [[Religion in ancient Rome|Roman]] worship of the god [[Priapus]]. This notion has been supported by various figures since, including the psychoanalyst [[Sigmund Freud]]. Phallic symbolism has been attributed to the maypole in the later Early Modern period, as one sexual reference is in [[John Cleland]]'s controversial novel ''[[Fanny Hill]]'':
<blockquote>
... and now, disengaged from the shirt, I saw, with wonder and surprise, what? not the plaything of a boy, not the weapon of a man, but a maypole of so enormous a standard, that had have proportions been observed, it must have belonged to a young giant.<ref>{{Cite book
| last = Cleland
| first = John
| title = Fanny Hill, or, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8PzitcyG2wsC
| publisher = [[Penguin Classics]]
| location = New York
| year = 1985
| isbn = 0-14-043249-3}}</ref>
</blockquote>
Ronald Hutton has stated, however, that "there is no historical basis for his claim and no sign that the people who used maypoles thought that they were phallic" and that "they were not carved to appear so."<ref name="Hutton2001" />

The anthropologist [[Mircea Eliade]] theorizes that the maypoles were simply a part of the general rejoicing at the return of summer, and the growth of new vegetation. In this way, they bore similarities with the May Day garlands which were also a common festival practice in Britain and Ireland.<ref name="Hutton, Ronald 1996 Page 234">{{harvnb|Hutton|1996|page=234}}</ref>