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TRADITIONAL PATTERN OF EVENTS
6am: as the sun come up the Magdalen College choir sings the Hymnus Eucharisticus from the Great Tower. After a brief service there are more short choral pieces. Then bells ring out and the crowds are led back up the High to the city centre by a Jack-in-the-Green. For more on the Oxford Jack see The Morris in Oxford (above).
May Morning 2024: the Jack proceeds up the High, entering Radcliffe Square to preside over Morris displays (video Tim Healey).
Morris dancing continues for nearly three hours at various locations including Broad Street, Catte Street, under the Bridge of Sighs, in front of St John's College and on the forecourt of the Ashmolean Museum. Meanwhile the tumultuous Whirly Band plays ancient dance tunes from the steps of the Clarendon Building in Broad Street. Highland Dance can be see outside All Souls and others contribute in impromptu fashion to the revels.
Dancing to the Whirly Band, May Morning 2024 (video Tim Healey)
Below: A street performer at the Bridge of Sighs, May Morning 2024 (video Tim Healey). You never know who will turn up...
Things quieten down for a bit around 9am as the massed morris retire for a private breakfast at St Edmund's Hall. But they start up again around 10am as dancing resumes outside the Ashmolean Museum.
May Morning Oxford is an ever-changing celebration and there is no fixed programme. What follows is the general pattern of events...
North Parade
When the shenanigans die down in the city centre there is a drift to North Parade. This short shopping street runs off Banbury Road and lies about half a mile north of St Giles. 'May Day is Midday at North Parade' runs the slogan. The street is closed to traffic between about 12 noon and 2pm, when there is morris dancing in the street and sessions in the Rose & Crown.
For more on these events, click on North Parade in the Menu at top of page.