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May Queen
The May Queen or Queen of May is a personification of the May Day holiday, and of Springtime and also Summer.
==Festivals==
Today the May Queen is a girl who must ride or walk at the front of a parade for May Day celebrations. She wears a white gown to symbolise purity and usually a tiara or crown. Her duty is to begin the May Day celebrations. She is generally crowned by flowers and makes a speech before the dancing begins. Certain age groups dance round a Maypole celebrating youth and the spring time.
Sir James George Frazer found in the figure of the May Queen, a relic of tree worship:〔Frazer (1922), ''The Golden Bough'', (ch. 10 "Relics of tree worship in modern Europe" ); Frazer quotes Mannhardt: "The names May, Father May, May Lady, Queen of the May, by which the anthropomorphic spirit of vegetation is often denoted, show that the idea of the spirit of vegetation is blent with a personification of the season at which his powers are most strikingly manifested."〕
According to folklore, the tradition once had a sinister twist, in that the May Queen was put to death once the festivities were over. The veracity of this belief is difficult to establish; it may just be a folk memory of ancient pagan customs. Still, frequent associations between May Day rituals, the occult and human sacrifice are still to be found in popular culture today. ''The Wicker Man'', a cult horror film starring Christopher Lee, is a prominent example of these associations.
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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