Are Europeans allowed to dance round them? (8)

I believe the answer is:

maypoles

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'allowed to dance round them?' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'are europeans' is the wordplay.
'are' becomes 'may' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'europeans' becomes 'Poles' (Pole is an example).
'may'+'poles'='MAYPOLES'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for maypoles that I've seen is " The English dance around them in the merry month".)

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