Since then, the image of May Day has been drastically tamed, initially because of society's lack of acceptance towards sexual frivolity. In the 17th century, May Day came under attack by puritans who actually succeeded in having it banned by an act of Parliament in 1644. Philip Stubbe, a known puritan of the century composed a tract called "Anatomy of Abuses." This tract opposed all types of merrymaking and in a section titled "Against May" he attempts to measure the extent of the sexual licence:
"Every parish town and village assemble themselves together. Men and women and children, old and young go off, some to the woods and groves, some to the hills and mountains, where they spend the night in pastimes. In the morning they return bringing with them birch-boughs and trees to deck their assemblies withal. I've heard it credibly reported by men of great gravity, credibility and reputation. That forty, three score, or a hundred youths, going to the woods over night. They have scarcely the third part of them, returned home again undefiled."
The puritans also objected to May Day because of the abolishment of social hierarchy. All were involved from the highest to the lowest of society and the puritans much preferred the strict gradations in society. May Day did return with Charles II in 1660 but it was radically changed. It kept it's basic image but the elements of sexual licence went underground. Then in the 19th Century, Victorians instilled a more moral tone on the festival. They emphasised it's innocence by converting it into a commemoration of Merri England. The girls taking part now wore white and bore posies.
Some Folklorists rediscovering the Pagan tradition of May Day, say that cleaning up the image of it has overshadowed the way in which customs of May Day, were rooted in an economic way of life.
May garlands not only embodied the advent of Summer, but they also incorporated the knocking on doors around the parish and asking for money. At other times of the year, begging would have been an offence, however the garlands signified a legitimate reason for asking for money. The taking of the tree highlighted the rights of the people to take wood freely for fuel.
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