Picture special: Oxford's May Morning thrives with music and dance

The good-natured gathering, which this year attracted an estimated 14,000 revelers, began at 6am as the crowd packed into High Street. They fell silent to listen to Magdalen College Choir singing from the top of the landmark Great Tower.

In a tradition stretching back to the 16th century, the performance began with the Hymnus Eucharisticus and featured the familiar Now Is the Month of Maying, to welcome the rising sun - this year hidden by cloud.

READ MORE: Full report for May Morning 2024 as attendance revealed 

Madrigals were followed by the ringing of church bells, heralding a feast of folk music as rival Morris dancing sides leapt into action.

While the customary sounds of squeeze boxes, bells and clashing sticks echoed around Broad Street, Catte Street and Radcliffe Square, they were joined by some less traditional music - with samba beats, the funky brass of the city's Horns of Plenty, local bands rocking out at The Bear, and DJs blasting out bass-heavy dance tunes.

May Morning, 2024. All pictures by Tim Hughes

Only in Oxford would you find Morris dancers jumping around to centuries-old folk melodies, yards away from a mini rave - such as the spirited party which sprang up again in front of the Bodleian Library.

That it all takes place at a time most people are still tucked up in bed or, later, heading to work, makes it all the stranger.

Friendly and warm-spirited, there is no trouble.

While the crowds in High Street are marshalled and hemmed in by barriers and Magdalen Bridge is boarded off to stop the foolhardy from diving into the shallow River Cherwell, it remains a freewheeling, anarchic little festival with little sign of management or organisation.

Partying outside the Bodleian

The ale may start flowing at dawn, but the ungodly hour keeps a cap on the exuberance. Only the scattered all-night party-goers were wobbly on their feet... most craving their beds rather than breakfast beers.

Oxford's May Morning fun may have its roots in our distant Pagan past, but it has been heartily embraced by clergy, colleges and even council officers.

And the impressive turnout on a misty Wednesday morning - only a couple of thousand people fewer than last year's record bank holiday crowd - shows that the tradition is not only surviving but growing.

The Principal of St Hilda's College, Professor Dame Sarah Springman

A large part of that is that the event is not locked in the past.

The banging beats and blasts of brass show that the festival is growing and changing with the city.

Morris music will always be the soundtrack to the start of May, but it is the other stuff that keeps it relevant to a younger crowd.

And if they happen to also fall for the sweet sound of the fiddle, melodeon, drum and the tinkle of ankle bells, then May Morning will keep its age-old charm for many more years to come.

And that's worth raising a 6am pint to!