May Day: Facts About The May 1 Holiday

Although it's not recognized in the U.S. or Canada, May Day is one of the biggest bank holidays elsewhere in the world.

While it conjures up images of maypoles and folk dances, the holiday has gone through a radical transformation over the centuries. Originally a pagan celebration called Beltane (which translates roughly to "day of fire"), May Day is observed as "Labor Day" or "International Workers' Day" in many countries, and organized street demonstrations and marches by working people and their labor unions are common.

In the case of Hungary, Poland and other East European nations, May Day is considered a remnant of the Communist era, when party leaders greeted crowds of workers.

View facts about May Day below:

1 of 7

1 of 8

First Slide

Previous Slide

@

The pagan name for May Day is Beltane, which means "day of fire," and was meant to mark the coming of summer and fertility. It was an important festival in the Celtic calendar, while a similar celebration called "Floralia" was marked on the Roman calendar. Over time, the rituals of Beltane and Floralia were overlapped and are still practiced today.

Around The World In 10 Photos

Unearthed

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Possible Successors

Woolwich Attack

North Korea Tweets

Syria-Lebanon History

The pagan name for May Day is Beltane, which means "day of fire," and was meant to mark the coming of summer and fertility. It was an important festival in the Celtic calendar, while a similar celebration called "Floralia" was marked on the Roman calendar. Over time, the rituals of Beltane and Floralia were overlapped and are still practiced today.

comments(97)

Total comments: 97 | Post a Comment

1 of 8

Most Interesting Fact

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

Ho-hum Fascinating

• 
  1
• 
  2
• 
  3
• 
  4
• 
  5
• 
  6
• 
  7
• 
  8
• 
  9
• 
  10

May Day Fact

loading...

May Day Fact

UserName

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Top User Slides

← Prev|Next →

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

loading...

Users who voted on this slide

← Prev|Next →

loading...

Comments

[Tom Sito]

06:45 PM on 05/03/2011

As usual, you managed to leave out all the US class war politics. Another Fact: In 1886 The first national union in the USA, The Knights of Labor, announced nationwide strikes to demand the 8 hour workday, down from 12 hours. Hundreds of strikes and riots convulsed the US and were put down by police and troops shooting American workers down in the streets. Even Karl Marx in London said" Isn't it amazing what is occurring in America? In 1889 when the First Internationale met, they signified May 1st and the International Day of Workers, in solidarity with the suffering in America.
In 1894, Union leader Samuel Gompers convinced Pres. Cleveland to declare our Labor Day at the end of summer, to be free of radical politics. Then Cleveland ordered the army to shoot at Pullman strikers.

[Erewhon7]

11:11 AM on 05/03/2011

I am glad #2 mentions the fact that May Day celebration has started
in U.S. Although the authors ( common to this volunteer lnterns produced content site) made an error assigning it to generic " 19th century U.S. movement"

In fact the actual May Day tradition extends to one-time event-- May 1, 1886 Chicago labor convention.
During this convention 8 hour day was demanded, parades and protests were held, and U.S.government-hired thugs ( mostly Pinkerton) responded with intimidation, beatings and sh00tings.
If anyone is interested, look up the names of :Albert Parsons,Louis Lingg and Johann Most.

[lightningbolt]

01:53 PM on 05/02/2011

The only reason May 1st is not a holiday in this country is because corporations rule it.  They will never allow such an anti-business event to be remembered widely and recognized by the state, even though the rest of the world celebrates this day on May 1.

[Erewhon7]

10:59 AM on 05/03/2011

Mostly agreed.
Although there is a labor day in U.S. It is just removed to another day in order to remove any connotation of international labor solidarity May Day has all over the world.

[lightningbolt]

01:49 PM on 05/02/2011

The fact that May 1 is not a holiday in the U.S. is proof that this country is still run by corporations.  We must push the government into making labor day May 1 instead of in September.

[DrMandible]

04:33 AM on 05/02/2011

Maybe one day the workers will unite. Until then we get what we deserve - American Idol.

[AJOHMSS]

08:17 AM on 05/02/2011

And Celebrity Apprentice.

[busteddrum]

02:09 AM on 05/02/2011

The facts are that shortly after the McCarthy witch hunts (1954) is when the phrase "under god" was added to the pledge of allegiance, and May Day was made "allegiance day" and then "Loyalty day" and then "law day" to drive the citizenry to ignore their constitutional rights and give in to the fascist govt. It was an intentional move to return power to the corporations.

[FaunaAndFlora]

02:06 AM on 05/02/2011

Okay. I couldn't resist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjPau5QYtYs

[busteddrum]

01:56 AM on 05/02/2011

May Day is the world wide celebration of respect for the Haymarket 8 who were wrongfully arrested and 4 were executed for crimes that were not theirs. It was the robber barons and the local police on their payroll who along with the pinkertons that tried to stop the labor movement. It is a crying shame that laborers across the world show respect for the sacrifices that these people made in CHICAGO USA to get reasonable rights for workers and most of Americans have no idea what it is about.

[JePense]

12:21 AM on 05/02/2011

File this under: How quickly they forget.

President Richard Nixon suspended civil rigthts during Vietnam War protests, arresting college students throughout Washington DC for assemblying in groups of 3 or more. Paddywagons hauled hundreds of students away. Pretty much all of them were released without charges within 24 hours (a tactic George W Bush later adopted for protesters at his campaign events).

Because the disgraced President Nixon went so far as to ban kite flying on the Washington D.C. mall -- every year those who remember the lost liberties of his paranoia-induced actions -- FLY KITES ON MAY 1 ON THE WASHINGTON DC MALL in celebration of the U.S. Constituion's freedom of assembly.

It's a shame all the MSM news jockeys were born after 1970 so there is no memory, no history--just social media blathering on and on about tiny events that fit in tiny tweets.

[Graydonpow]

10:04 PM on 05/01/2011

I somewhat remember something about picking a basket of flowers for someone and leaving it anonymously on their doorstep as a May Day ritual. I remember doing this as a child for my mom. Am I right in assuming this is a May Day ritual?

[cydRN]

10:56 PM on 05/01/2011

You are correct. It was referred to as "Going Maying", and you left your neighbors and friends baskets filled with flowers and trinkets.

[Nolana]

07:18 PM on 05/03/2011

My mom taught me how to make little baskets out of paper, and fill them with flowers and candies, and hang them on neighbors' doors. We never have much in the way of flowers here on May 1, so I'd have to make paper flowers to go with the early dandelions and johnny-jump-ups.

Alas, in this paranoid age, May Baskets left anonymously would either be thrown away or blown up. :(

[Bernique]

07:07 PM on 05/01/2011

A little history about May Day, which started in the United States!

"The first May Day demonstrations, in 1886, won the most important of the rights ever won by
working people ­ the right demanded above all others by the labor activists
of a century ago:

"Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what we will!"

... in 1890 President Samuel Gompers of the American
Federation of Labor was able to call for "an International Labor Day" in
favor of the eight-hour workday. Similar proclamations were made by
socialist and union leaders in other nations where, to this day, May Day is
celebrated as Labor Day.

Workers in the United States and 13 other countries demonstrated on that May
Day of 1890 ­ including 30,000 of them in Chicago. The New York World hailed
it as "Labor's Emancipation Day." It was. For it marked the start of an
irreversible drive that finally established the eight-hour day as the
standard for millions of working people".

Dick Meister, a San Francisco-based columnist 5/1/11

http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12654

[Anonani]

06:46 PM on 05/01/2011

Believe it or not May Day was huge in South Louisiana when I was a child. I remember the most fun wrapping the May Pole. Great and fun memories!

[BlackYowe]

07:00 PM on 05/01/2011

I find it odd how the memory of it has been sponged away in the USA. It was a big thing in small town America.

[Anonani]

07:04 PM on 05/01/2011

Perhaps it is a sad commentary on how we have demonize so many things that once upon a time were considered a normal part of our culture. I don't really know what we celebrate any longer. Everything is tied to making corporations rich. Most of our holidays, in the United States, are simply opportunities to fleece the pockets of the average citizen.

[thorrsman]

07:21 PM on 05/01/2011

Not odd at all. Since International Communism usurped May 1st, America just naturally shunned it. While International Communism has proven to be a failure, it still has its adherents in many places, including on American college campuses.

[cydRN]

10:57 PM on 05/01/2011

I loved dancing around the pole, wrapping the ribbons in increasingly intricate patterns until we children were all laughing and falling about. It was a great tradition!

[blinkthink]

10:51 PM on 05/02/2011

Yes, it was. We also would fill cups with candy, deliver it to the door of someone we were sweet on, ring their doorbell and if they saw you, they chased you around the house and if they caught you, they got to kiss you. Great fun!

[BlackYowe]

06:22 PM on 05/01/2011

May Day has been a favorite holiday of mine since I was a small child. Every school once had a May Pole and many colleges and normal schools did as well. There is still a school in Clymer, NY that has a May Pole dance. For lots of great traditons and history on May Day check out this blog: http://hillshepherd.blogspot.com/

[Linda from Deerfield]

05:31 PM on 05/01/2011

Where are the Labor Day May Day celebration reports? Is someone afraid or something?

[BlackYowe]

06:23 PM on 05/01/2011

Labor Day in the USA is a weekend holiday at the end of summer not the beginning of summer.

[Linda from Deerfield]

08:27 PM on 05/01/2011

Who among us does not know that? However, May Day is a celebration of Labor Day in most of the rest of the world, and there were many such celebrations today.

[Alonso Quijano]

05:24 PM on 05/01/2011

This list conveniently NEGLECTS to mention that May 1 commemorates a day when pro labor demonstrators in CHICAGO were gunned down and killed by law and order personnel.

Not a pretty memory for American citizens, and therefore suppressed by those claiming that patriotism needs to cover up unflattering truths.

[LilacFields]

05:50 PM on 05/01/2011

And, close to that date, on May 4 1970:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Je5OT8d2OI

[deluk]

06:25 PM on 05/01/2011

OH trust YOU, to come on here all dour...it's about pretty maypoles and village greens.