1 May (Saint Philip and Saint James Day)
The symbol of this season is the "May Tree", which represents health and vitality for all women and girls of the towns and villages.
The history of Maypole erection dates back to 1255 in the German city of Aachen, where maypoles were erected in front of the dwellings of wealthy townspeople, as a sign of serious interest in a dashing girl. Here in Slovakia, in the western Slovakia, the maypole was erected at the beginning of the month, especially on the night of the first of May. In Zemplín or in the south of central Slovakia, they were erected on Turíce.
The erection of the maypole was the task of young men who prepared for this ritual in secret for a week. Tall trees about ten metres long, most often firs, spruces, pines or birches, were first stripped of their bark and the trunk cleared of branches. The tree was then decorated with ornaments and the green top with long brightly coloured paper or cloth ribbons, milady scarves and bottles of pálené.
A terror to the girls was the erection of a dry juniper - juniper tree in their yard, which was put up chiefly for the old maids and was a cause of great anger.
To this day, it is still common to erect only a communal maypole.
