Labor Day or Labor Day is an annual holiday to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers. Labor Day has its origins in the labor union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.
International Workers' Day (also known as May Day) is a celebration of the international labour movement and left-wing movements. It commonly sees organized street demonstrations and marches by working people and their labour unions throughout most of the world. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries. It is also celebrated unofficially in many other countries. The Haymarket affair (also known as the Haymarket massacre or Haymarket riot) refers to the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on Tuesday May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago. It began as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight-hour day. An unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at police as they acted to disperse the public meeting. The bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians, and the wounding of scores of others.
CUSTOMS & TRADITIONS
ENGLAND - In England, May Day traditions include university students in pagan rituals, playing madrigal music, and dancing at sunrise in celebrations at Durham and Oxford. A Jack in the Green carnival has been revived in towns such as Whitstable, Rochester, Hastings, Bristol, and Oxford, where the traditional figure dressed as a tree leads a parade of Morris dancers and others. Hordes of motorbike riders set off from London each year in the Maydayrun and travel the 55 miles to Hastings to join its Jack in the Green festivities. There is maypole dancing and plenty of singing and dancing in the streets. Other Cornish towns hold a Flower Boat Ritual, where a model boat is taken past decorated houses to the beach and set afloat. Maypole dancing and Morris dancing are popular too.
GERMANY - Germany has a May Day slogan of ‘Tanz in den Mai’ or ‘Dance into May’. On the eve of May Day, there are traditional pagan ceremonies such as bonfires and maypole decorating. In western areas, males send their girlfriends a tree or maypole adorned with streamers. May Day itself is popular for picnics and other outings.
FRANCE - In France, men give women a lily sprig, a ritual that started when Charles IX did this on 1 May 1561. A woman traditionally kisses the man who gave her the branch. Vendors set up stalls and sell these sprays and don’t have to pay tax on the profits.
FINLAND - Finland starts May Day festivities with its Walpurgis Night on the eve of the holiday. The event is one of the country’s three largest celebrations, the others being New Year’s Eve and the midsummer Juhannas, and there are bonfires and plenty of eating, drinking, and partying, with festivities carrying over to the next day. Similar nights are held in Sweden, Germany, Estonia, and Czech Republic. Large picnics are organized in Finnish
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL - Spain and Portugal have celebrated May Day as a labour day since the end of their dictatorship eras several decades ago. In Italy, traditional May Day celebrations include ‘Concerto del Primo Maggio’, or ‘1 May’s Concert’, attracting a crowd of over 300,000.
HUNGARY - In Hungary, people dance round ‘May trees’. In the Jászság (between the rivers Danube and Tisza), May trees are usually decorated with colourful paper ribbons. Some suitors also attach gifts for their sweethearts, such as a bottle of wine. On Palóc territories (Northern Hungary), the man would only erect the trees, leaving it to be decorated by the girl and her mother.
NORTHERN EUROPE - Scandinavian countries, and Russia all hold annual parades, meetings, and demonstrations to celebrate labour achievements on May Day
SCOTLAND - In St. Andrews Scotland, some of the students gather on the beach late on April 30th and run into the North Sea at sunrise on May Day. This is accompanied by torch light processions and much enthusiastic celebration
IRELAND - In Ireland, May Day has been celebrated in Ireland since pagan times as the Feast of Bealtaine and in latter times as Mary's day. Bonfires are lit to mark the coming of summer and to banish the long nights of winter. (Irish Mayday Bank Holiday is now officially observed on the first Monday in May). In modern times May Day is associated with anti-government rallies which are held every year on this date. The Festival of the Fires in Killare, Co.Westmeath marks the celebration of May Day.
SWEDEN - In Sweden Mayday is denoted "First of May" ("Första maj" in Swedish) and has been a public holiday in Sweden since 1939. The main events on Mayday are political demonstrations carried out by the working class organisations and political parties historically associated with the working class movement.
PACIFIC - In the Pacific and specifically in Hawaii May Day is known as Lei Day and is normally set aside to celebrate island culture in general and Native Hawaiian culture in particular. While it was invented by a poet and a local newspaper columnist in the 1920s, it has since been adopted by state and local government as well as by the residents, and it has taken on a sense of a general spring celebration there.
AMERICAS - In the Americas, May Day was also celebrated by some early European settlers of the American Continent. In some parts of the United States May baskets are made. These are small and usually filled with flowers or treats and left at someone's doorstep. The basket giver would ring the bell and run away. The person receiving the basket would try to catch the fleeing giver. If they caught the person, a kiss was to be exchanged.
References:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1450912/Ma y-Day
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1961730.stm
http://www.theholidayspot.com/mayday/history.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%2 7_Day#Europe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Day
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