On 8 April 1644, Parliament got into a snit over the maypole. They determined that they had enough of it and released An Ordinance (for the better observation of the Lord’s Day) to ban it, calling the maypole a “Heathenish vanity, generally abused to superstition and wickedness”. The Puritans were looking to reshape England into a godly society, and the poor, innocent maypole just had to go. The Ordinance stated: That all and singular May-Poles, that are, or shall be erected, shall be taken down and removed by the Constables, Borsholders, Tything-men, petty Constables, and Churchwardens of the Parishes, and places where the…