May Day Jouvay gets set to Welcome the World in 2012!

At 5.33 in the morning on May 1st 2010, as dawn broke across the Solent, five partner projects in Portsmouth, Southampton, Havant, Gosport and the Isle of Wight launched their new celebration inspired by London 2012 – May Day Jouvay!

About May Day Jouvay

May Day Jouvay is all about taking a fresh look at what we call traditional English Culture (as epitomised by May Day Festivities around Maypoles, Morris Dancing and May Queens) and working with young people to update and re-invent the celebrations in the context of a vibrant new multi-cultural Britain. The word Jouvay comes from the French jour overt meaning ‘the day opens’ – a title given to a particular form of carnival performed at dawn in the Caribbean.

Derived from the African culture of former slaves, this celebration is representative of many ritual celebrations around the world that share the concept of ‘rebirth’ , the coming of summer and the sewing of the seed, the dawn of a new day, new hope, new opportunity.

May Day Jouvay aims to create a new modern festival for May Day that is driven by young people, is far-reaching and sustainable and gives our communities a moment to share together for London 2012 that is outstanding and unforgettable.

What we did

The Carnival Learning Centre worked with the West Wight Landscape Partnership – a Heritage Lottery funded project – to pilot May Day Jouvay on the Isle of Wight with an event based in Yarmouth and at Fort Victoria.  At 5am we gathered on the shore to welcome the day with a specially devised outdoor performance featuring live samba drum, Morris dance, specially commissioned carnival costumes and song. We shared the Dawn Chorus, performed and recorded by our partners in Portsmouth working with local school children – we watched out for a special gift of light sent by RIB (rigid inflatable boat) across the Solent from Southsea, we shared a virtual greeting across the water, we drank tea and ate bacon rolls, and marvelled in a strange joined up feeling of being part of something that was so much bigger than we were.

From 9am we staged a May Day Parade, being joined by over 100 local school children and their families wearing beautifully made costumes created in workshops led by Carnival Learning Centre artists. Older revellers from the Abbeyfield residential care home, arrived dressed as May Kings and Queens on a beautifully decorated float. And to end it all, an open-air Barn Dance continued til noon in Yarmouth’s Pier Square, where five Morris dance teams and traditional Maypole dancers mingled with samba performers and carnivalistas, engaging unsuspecting tourists and passing shoppers in a magical, immersive and memorable experience.

May Day Jouvay aspires to build over the next two years to create an awe-inspiring joined-up spectacle for the Solent, animating sea, shore and sky, that truly ‘welcomes the world’  in 2012.  For more info or to be part of May Day Jouvay 2011 please contact us.

For pics of May Day Jouvay 2010 on Isle of Wight please click here to see our gallery page