A ritual called the Florifertum was performed on either 27 April or 3 May,[8][9] during which a bundle of wheat ears was carried into a shrine, though it is not clear if this devotion was made to Flora or Ceres.

[21] In rural regions of Germany, especially the Harz Mountains, Walpurgisnacht celebrations are traditionally held on the night before May Day, including bonfires and the wrapping of a Maibaum (maypole).

In The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, Sir James George Frazer reported May Day customs in Tyrol during the 19th century.

Sir James George Frazer wrote in The Golden Bough (1911):[23]on May Day two troops of young men on horseback used to meet as if for mortal combat.

[25] Throughout the eighteenth century, the Finglas maypole was at the centre of a week of festivity which included "the playing of games, various competitions, and, according to one account the crowning of 'Queen of the May'.

"[25] In a letter written by Major Sirr on 2 May 1803 (shortly after the turbulent 1798 Rebellion), he writes: Public celebrations of Bealtaine fell out of popularity by the 20th century and many old traditions are no longer widely observed.

[28] Reference to this earlier celebration is found in poem 'Peblis to the Play', contained in the Maitland Manuscripts of 15th- and 16th-century Scots poetry: At Beltane, quhen ilk bodie bownis To Peblis to the Play, To heir the singin and the soundis; The solace, suth to say, Be firth and forrest furth they found Thay graythis tham full gay; God wait that wald they do that stound, For it was their feast day the day they celebrate May Day, Thay said, [...] The poem describes the celebration in the town of Peebles in the Scottish Borders, which continues to stage a parade and pageant each year, including the annual ‘Common Riding’, which takes place in many towns throughout the Borders.

[29] John Jamieson, in his Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (1808) describes some of the May Day/Beltane customs which persisted in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in parts of Scotland, which he noted were beginning to die out.

[30] In the nineteenth century, folklorist Alexander Carmichael (1832–1912), collected the song Am Beannachadh Bealltain (The Beltane Blessing) in his Carmina Gadelica, which he heard from a crofter in South Uist.

An older Edinburgh tradition has it that young women who climb Arthur's Seat and wash their faces in the morning dew will have lifelong beauty.

At the University of St Andrews, some of the students gather on the beach late on 30 April and run into the North Sea at sunrise on May Day, occasionally naked.

It most likely originated around the beginning of the 20th century in an urban environment, perhaps in connection with Karel Hynek Mácha's poem Máj (which is often recited during these days) and Petřín.

[33] Centenary Green part of the Octavia Hill Birthplace House, Wisbech has a flagpole which converts into a Maypole each year, used by local schools and other groups.

Since it was reinstated 21 years ago it has grown in size, and on 5 May 2014 thousands of revellers were attracted from all over the south-west to enjoy the festivities, with BBC Somerset covering the celebrations.

The Maydayrun involves thousands of motorbikes taking a 55-mile (89 km) trip from Greater London (Locksbottom) to the Hastings seafront, East Sussex.

This is believed to be one of the oldest fertility rites in the UK; revellers dance with the Oss through the streets of the town and even though the private gardens of the citizens, accompanied by accordion players and followers dressed in white with red or blue sashes who sing traditional May Day songs.

This event, however, was celebrated in ancient times not in May but in association with the Anthesteria, a festival held in February and dedicated to the goddess of agriculture Demeter and her daughter Persephone.

The Anthesteria was a festival of souls, plants and flowers, and Persephone's coming to earth from Hades marked the rebirth of nature, a common theme in all these traditions.

A common, until recently, May Day custom involved the annual revival of a youth called Adonis, or alternatively of Dionysus, or of Maios (in Modern Greek Μαγιόπουλο, the Son of Maia).

In a simple theatrical ritual, the significance of which has long been forgotten, a chorus of young girls sang a song over a youth lying on the ground, representing Adonis, Dionysus or Maios.

This custom has also practically disappeared, like the theatrical revival of Adonis/Dionysus/Maios, as a result of rising urban traffic and with no alternative public grounds in most Greek city neighbourhoods.

The Calendimaggio is a tradition still alive today in many regions of Italy as an allegory of the return to life and rebirth: among these Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna (for example, is celebrated in the area of the Quattro Province or Piacenza, Pavia, Alessandria and Genoa), Tuscany and Umbria.

This magical-propitiatory ritual is often performed during an almsgiving in which, in exchange for gifts (traditionally eggs, wine, food or sweets), the Maggi (or maggerini) sing auspicious verses to the inhabitants of the houses they visit.

Throughout the Italian peninsula these Il Maggio couplets are very diverse—most are love songs with a strong romantic theme, that young people sang to celebrate the arrival of spring.

Symbols of spring revival are the trees (alder, golden rain) and flowers (violets, roses), mentioned in the verses of the songs, and with which the maggerini adorn themselves.

On May Day, the Romanians celebrate the arminden (or armindeni), the beginning of summer, symbolically tied with the protection of crops and farm animals.

On May Day eve, country women do not work in the field as well as in the house to avoid devastating storms and hail coming down on the village.

People sing popular songs (also called maios,) making mentions of social and political events during the past year, sometimes under the form of a converse, while they walk around the sculpture with the percussion of two sticks.

In Lugo[50] and in the village of Vilagarcía de Arousa[51] it was usual to ask a tip to the attendees, which used to be a handful of dry chestnuts (castañas maiolas), walnuts or hazelnuts.

In 2024, Morris dancers danced the sun up in Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin.