Let me know my fate, whether weal or woe
  Whether my rank’s to be high or low,
  Whether to live single or be a bride,
  And the destiny my star doth provide.

If this is done one dreams of the future.

  When April blows his horn
  ’Tis good for hay and corn.

April showers make May flowers.

26th April was called Break Day.  The Fen Commons were broke or opened by turning in stock.

      May.

The May Day Garlands are of various forms.  Those in Peterborough are formed of two hoops fastened together to form a globe and a stick or stave through the centre.  The hoops are decorated with flowers and ribbons, and when the children possess one, the best doll is fixed on the stick inside the garland.  Two girls carry the garland which is carefully covered with a white cloth.  This is lifted at the houses and the wondrous garland is exposed whilst the children sing the following song, which is the favourite May Day song in the City.  A friend has kindly given me the music and words which she wrote on the 1st May, 1904:  from the children’s performance: 

[Illustration:  Music]

I.

Good morrow, Lords and Ladies
It is the first of May,
We hope you’ll view our garlands,
They are so bright and gay.

Chorus—­To the green woods we will go,
To the green woods we will go,
To the green woods we will go,
To the green woods we will go.

II.

This bunch of May it looks so gay,
Before your door it stands;
It is but a sprout, but it’s well spread out
By the work of our Lord’s hands.

Chorus—­To the green woods, etc.

III.

The Cuckoo sings in April,
The Cuckoo sings in May,
The Cuckoo sings in June;
In July she flies away.

Chorus—­To the green woods, etc.

IV.

I’m very glad the Spring has come,
The sun shines out so bright;
The little birds upon the trees
Are singing for delight.

Chorus—­To the green woods, etc.

V.

  The roads are very dusty,
  Our shoes are very thin;
  We have a little money box
  To put our money in.

    Chorus—­To the green woods, etc.

The Garlands are carried round on 1st May and on Old May Day.

The Huntingdonshire Garlands are usually of a pryamidical form of flowers and streamers, surmounted by a doll.

The frontispiece of May garland at Glatton is a copy of a water colour drawing by the Rev. E. Bradley (Cuthbert Bede) when living there in 1856.

In the earlier part of the last century it was the custom for a young man to get as large a branch as possible of May in flower on May 1st and fix it to his sweetheart’s window.  If the shutters were closed it was thrust through the diamond, oval, round, or heartshaped openings at the top of the shutters.  The larger the branch and the more the blossoms the greater the compliment.  If a quarrel had taken place, and peace not made, then the angry swain would fix a branch of blackthorn in the place which otherwise should have held the May blossom.