The old Celtic celebration of May Day was called Beltane, the Celtic god of light or the sun (Bel, Beli or Belinus). He, in turn, may be traced to the Middle Eastern god Baal.
Other names for May Day include: Cetsamhain ('opposite Samhain') and Walpurgisnacht (in Germany).
For the Celts, Beltane was a festival where fires were set to mark the beginning of summer: "They rolled wheels of fire down hillsides, lit bonfires, and drove their cattle through the flames in a ceremony of purification".
Some people believe that the celebrations on May Day began with Beltane and the tree worship of the Druids. Others believe they go back to the spring festivals of ancient Egypt and India. However, May Day as it is celebrated today is more of a European import, believe it or not, from Italy. The people of ancient Rome honoured Flora, the goddess of flowers and springtime, with a festival called Florialia. The goddess was represented by a small statue wreathed in garlands. A procession of singers and dancers carried the statue past a sacred blossom-decked tree. Later, festivals of this kind spread to other lands conquered by the Romans, and of course this included Britain.
As Europe became Christianised, the pagan holidays lost their religious character and either morphed into popular secular celebrations, as with May Day, or were given new Christian interpretations while retaining many traditional pagan features, as with Christmas, Easter, and All Saint's Day. Beginning in the 20th century, many neopagans began reconstructing the old traditions and celebrating May Day as a pagan religious festival once more.
These festivals reached their height in England during the Middle Ages. On the first day of May, English villagers awoke at daybreak to roam the countryside gathering blossoming flowers and branches. A towering maypole was set up on the village green. This pole, usually made of the trunk of a tall birch tree, was decorated with bright field flowers. The villagers then danced and sang around the maypole, accompanied by a piper. Usually the Morris dance was performed by dancers wearing bells on their colorful costumes. Often the fairest maiden of the village was chosen queen of the May. Sometimes a May king was also chosen. These two led the village dancers and ruled over the festivities. In Elizabethan times, the king and queen were called Robin Hood and Maid Marian.
May Day festivities became so much fun that in 1644 the Puritans attempted to make the celebrations illegal, banning even the making of Maypoles. They especially attempted to suppress the 'greenwood marriages' of young men and women who spent the entire night in the forest, staying out to greet the sunrise, and bringing back boughs of flowers and garlands to decorate the village the next morning. One angry Puritan wrote, 'men doe use commonly to runne into woodes in the night time, amongst maidens, to set bowes, in so muche, as I have hearde of tenne maidens whiche went to set May, and nine of them came home with childe.'
This cache, although set up in Autumn, highlights the Robin Hood and Maid Marian aspect of the May Day celebrations.
It is unclear how Maid Marian became associated with Robin Hood or what prompted their inclusion into the May Games except it may be a case of every ‘king’ needing his ‘queen’ : and who better than the shepherdess Maid Marion who appeared alongside the shepherd Robin in the popular French romantic operetta written by Adam de la Halle called "Le Jeu de Robin et Marion". The musical play about a shepherdess and her shepherd lover named Marion and Robin (not Robin Hood) was usually performed during May and early June, most commonly around Whitsun. It may have been absorbed into the May Games, and it has been suggested that Robin Hood became associated with the May Games through his association with the forest and his skill as an archer and hunter. What we do know is that an important part of the May Day festivities is the crowning of the May Queen, when the fairest maid of the village was crowned with flowers as Queen of the May. She held sway for one day over her court; who consisted of Morris Dancers, Robin Hood, Maid Marian, Friar Tuck, Little John and all the merry men along with the villagers and townspeople. No doubt a good time was had by all as is customary in our ‘modern’ age when Garland Day is celebrated at Castleton the same as in days gone by.
Perhaps the players travelled around the area performing the Mummers plays; one day performing in Warsop, the next in Wellow. And who knows what scenes the old oak trees bore witness to in those times!
To the cache. The coordinates given are no more than an indication of the general region. Solve the following simple puzzle to find the actual cache location.
If Robin Hood were able to fire an arrow 4.75 miles from the Parliament Oak in a (roughly) northerly direction, which other famous oak tree might it hit? Once you've found the tree and calculated the exact bearing you'll be able to locate the spot where the arrow would have first crossed a river. Go as close as you can get to this spot without leaving the road and find a sign nearby (it may be on a pole!) which has a strong connection to "Robin And the May Pole Sins". About eight paces west of the sign is an old gatepost and the cache.
The container is a small container with room for a few small swaps and trackables. There is parking very close by. The area can get busy at certain times of the day and you may require a second attempt if there are too many muggles around. But the description and hint should give the hide away and make it a quick cache and dash. Take a note of the letter inside the lid!
You can check that you're heading for the correct spot by calculating the coordinates and using Geochecker.com. If your answer is within 100ft (30 metres) of the cache you should have it confirmed. Then you can use GPS or Satnav to get close, and follow the description to find the cache itself.
References: Robin Hood Outlaw
British customs and traditions in May