May Morning is an annual event in Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, on May Day

May Day

May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....

 (1 May). It starts early at 6am with the Magdalen College

Magdalen College, Oxford

Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...

 Choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

 singing a hymn, the Hymnus Eucharisticus

Hymnus Eucharisticus

The Hymnus Eucharisticus is a traditional hymn sung by the Magdalen College choir at Oxford, England...

, from the top of Magdalen Tower

Magdalen Tower, Oxford

Magdalen Great Tower is a bell tower in Oxford, England. It is one of the oldest parts of Magdalen College, Oxford, situated directly in the High Street. Built of stone from 1492, when the foundation stone was laid, its bells hung ready for use in 1505, and completed by 1509, it is an important...

, a tradition of over 500 years. Large crowds normally gather under the tower along the High Street

High Street, Oxford

The High Street in Oxford, England runs between Carfax, generally recognized as the centre of the city, and Magdalen Bridge to the east. Locally the street is often known as The High. It forms a gentle curve and is the subject of many prints, paintings, photographs, etc...

 and on Magdalen Bridge

Magdalen Bridge, Oxford

Magdalen Bridge spans the divided stream of the River Cherwell just to the east of the City of Oxford, England, and next to Magdalen College, whence it gets its name and pronunciation. It connects the High Street to the west with The Plain, now a roundabout, to the east.- Antecedents:This point of...

. This is then followed by general revelry and festivities including Morris dancing

Morris dance

Morris dance is a form of English folk dance usually accompanied by music. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers. Implements such as sticks, swords, handkerchiefs and bells may also be wielded by the dancers...

, impromptu music, etc., for a couple of hours. There is a party atmosphere, despite the early hour. In fact, there are normally all-night ball

Ball (dance)

A ball is a formal dance. The word 'ball' is derived from the Latin word "ballare", meaning 'to dance'; the term also derived into "bailar", which is the Spanish and Portuguese word for dance . In Catalan it is the same word, 'ball', for the dance event.Attendees wear evening attire, which is...

s the night before, so some people (especially students) are in formal attire (e.g., black tie

Black tie

Black tie is a dress code for evening events and social functions. For a man, the main component is a usually black jacket, known as a dinner jacket or tuxedo...

/white tie

White tie

White tie is the most formal evening dress code in Western fashion. It is worn to ceremonial occasions such as state dinners in some countries, as well as to very formal balls and evening weddings...

 or ball gown

Ball gown

A ball gown is worn for ballroom dancing and only the most formal social occasions according to rules of etiquette. It is traditionally a full-skirted gown reaching at least to the ankles, made of luxurious fabric, delicately and exotically trimmed. Most versions are cut off the shoulder with...

).

There is a recent tradition of students jumping from Magdalen Bridge. This seems to have started in the early 1980s, and has become a concern. The months that precede May can be relatively dry, and lead to a rather shallow river. This has resulted in some instances of serious injury, most notably those of 2005. The exceptionally low water resulted around half the hundred or so jumpers requiring medical treatment resulting in the closure of the bridge on every May Morning since 2006, until its reopening in 2011.

Until the 1990s, there was a genuinely long tradition of university undergraduates congregating under the bridge in hired punts

Punt (boat)

A punt is a flat-bottomed boat with a square-cut bow, designed for use in small rivers or other shallow water. Punting refers to boating in a punt. The punter generally propels the punt by pushing against the river bed with a pole...

, and having early morning picnics and drinking. Towns people

Town and gown

Town and gown are two distinct communities of a university town; "town" being the non-academic population and "gown" metonymically being the university community, especially in ancient seats of learning such as Oxford, Cambridge, Durham and St Andrews, although the term is also used to describe...

 would congregate on Magdalen Bridge to laugh at their antics, while awaiting the singing. The intoxicated punters often fell in the river and waded about. Punts frequently sank.
When punt owners, both private and college, banned the letting out of punts on May morning they effectively cleared the river under the bridge, making it look inviting to young people gathered on the bridge, usually students new to Oxford and ignorant of how shallow the river is at this point. Hence the very recent habit of jumping, encouraged by the totally mistaken idea that this is a tradition, and the media attention given to it. Because of this unfortunate situation, access to the bridge has now been closed for several years during the ceremony.

In the 19th century, the young townsmen blew horns and ran riot, after the singing. Activities have varied over the previous centuries. One fictional description of the Tudor May Morning is in "Towers in the Mist" by Elizabeth Goudge.

See also

• English traditions on May Day
• The Oxcentrics, a jazz band that played on May Mornings in the 1970s

External links

• Music for a May Morning CD from Magdalen College
• May Morning 2003 from the BBC
  BBC
  The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
  
  
• Morning, Magdalen Tower by William Holman Hunt
  William Holman Hunt
  William Holman Hunt OM was an English painter, and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Biography:...
  
  (1890)