Immediately upon issuing from the gate of the wall, the procession was met and surrounded by the crowd, carrying large branches of may in bloom, flowers, and green willow boughs.

The flowers they flung before him on the ground; the branches they bore with them, chanting old verses in honour of the family.

The route was through the town, where the Baron stopped at the door of the Court House, and proclaimed a free pardon to all serfs (who were released within a few minutes) not guilty of the heavier crimes.
Thence he went to the pasture just beyond, carefully mown close and swept for the purpose, where the May-pole stood, wreathed with flowers and green branches.

Beneath it he deposited a bag of money for distribution upon a carved butt placed there, the signal that the games were open.

Instantly the fiddles began to play, and the feast really commenced.