NorsePlay sees Yggdrasil in the Maypole.

Last month I attended a belated Beltane celebration at Tucson's magical Valley Of The Moon (which has two stickpins within the upcoming Map Of Midgard!) and as the cords were being wound around the Maypole, I had a possible realization: Has anyone in Norse Studies made a connection between the Maypole, which once was & does represent a tree, being an analog to Yggdrasil, and the procession's ribbons being the skeins of the Norns who sit at the World Tree's base to actively weave the cords of men's lives?

The pole could also be Frigg's distaff as she pulls the wool out from the bunch at the top to wind it down into yarn or thread, a usage practice which may be related to the Völva's Seiðstafr that resembles a distaff, all of which possibly much later becomes the witch's broomstick.

While the practice I saw in Tucson had very little formality to it, online I'd seen youths of both sexes dressed in specific costumes selected to weave with girls going in one direction and boys in the opposite, all passing the ribbons over & under to very neatly wrap the pole, the active metaphor being that the children of the community will interact and probably marry to form the town's world of the future, the fertility of spring being the season for those actions.

Perhaps all the above's my Heathen Worldview on overdrive, but I'd also suspect there's something to the annual weaving & wrapping of the Maypole and the Fates (described in Gylfaginning §16) tending to the tree's wear & tear by putting a layer of white clay on Yggdrasil to help preserve it.

[photo by NorsePlay from the aforementioned event.]

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Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants at age seven. Since then he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the Map of Midgard project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay. If you have employment/opportunities in investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer, do contact him.