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113-675: Traditionally, 1 May is the date of the European spring festival of May Day . The International Workers Congress held in Paris in 1889 established the Second International for labor, socialist, and Marxist parties. It adopted a resolution for a "great international demonstration" in support of working-class demands for the eight-hour day . The 1 May date was chosen by the American Federation of Labor to commemorate

226-584: A "United Kingdom Day". Similarly, attempts were made by the John Major government in 1993 to abolish the May Day holiday and replace it with Trafalgar Day. Unlike the other Bank Holidays and common law holidays, the first Monday in May is taken off from (state) schools by itself, and not as part of a half-term or end of term holiday. This is because it has no Christian significance and does not otherwise fit into

339-573: A May Bush was reported as being suppressed by law and the magistrates in Dublin in the 18th century. The tradition of lighting bonfires has survived in parts of the country, and other traditions continue to be revived as local cultural events. May Day has been celebrated in Scotland for centuries. It was previously closely associated with the Beltane festival. Reference to this earlier celebration

452-476: A May Bush: typically a thorn bush or branch decorated with flowers, ribbons, bright shells and rushlights. Holy wells were also visited, while Bealtaine dew was thought to bring beauty and maintain youthfulness. For almost two centuries, the Dublin suburb of Finglas was well known for its "May Games" and its maypole "was one of the last to survive in Dublin", according to historian Michael J. Tutty. Throughout

565-435: A bundle of wheat ears was carried into a shrine, though it is not clear if this devotion was made to Flora or Ceres . Floralia concluded with competitive events and spectacles , and a sacrifice to Flora. Maiouma was celebrated at least as early as the 2nd century AD, when records show expenses for the month-long festival were appropriated by Emperor Commodus . According to the 6th-century chronicles of John Malalas ,

678-534: A festival celebrating Dionysus and Aphrodite held every three years during the month of May. The Floralia opened with theatrical performances. In the Floralia , Ovid says that hares and goats were released as part of the festivities. Persius writes that crowds were pelted with vetches , beans , and lupins . A ritual called the Florifertum was performed on either 27 April or 3 May, during which

791-647: A general strike in the United States, which had begun on 1 May 1886 and culminated in the Haymarket affair four days later. The demonstration subsequently became a yearly event. The 1904 Sixth Conference of the Second International , called on "all Social Democratic Party organisations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on the First of May for the legal establishment of

904-537: A higher social class. The contention with feudalism began once the merchants and guild artisans grew in numbers and power. Once they organized themselves, they began opposing the fees imposed on them by the nobles and clergy. This development led to new ideas and eventually established the Bourgeoisie class which Marx opposes. Commerce began to change the form of production and markets began to shift in order to support larger production and profits. This change led to

1017-765: A major event in the town calendar. A traditional sweeps festival is performed over the May bank holiday in Rochester, Kent , where the Jack in the Green is woken at dawn on 1 May by Morris dancers. At 7:15 p.m. on 1 May each year, the Kettle Bridge Clogs morris dancing side dance across Barming Bridge (otherwise known as the Kettle Bridge), which spans the River Medway near Maidstone , to mark

1130-472: A mass stoppage as part of the eight-hour workday movement. It became a yearly commemoration, inspiring American workers to have their first stoppage. 1 May was chosen to be International Workers' Day to commemorate the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago . In that year beginning on 1 May, there was a general strike for the eight-hour workday. On 4 May, the police acted to disperse a public assembly in support of

1243-550: A national public holiday on 1 May each year since 1995. Workers' Day started to get more attention by African workers in 1928, which saw thousands of workers in a mass march. In 1950, the South African Communist Party called for a strike on 1 May in response to the Suppression of Communism Act declaring it illegal. Police violence caused the death of 18 people across Soweto. It has its origins within

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1356-450: A popular, if not official, holiday. As a result of the killings on 1 May 1950 and the success of COSATU's call in 1986, 1 May became associated with resistance to the apartheid government. After its first universal election in 1994 , 1 May was adopted as a public holiday, celebrated for the first time in 1995. On its website, the city of Durban states that the holiday "celebrate[s] the role played by trade unions and other labour movements in

1469-485: A proletarian class consciousness , rather than having proletarian social attributes (such as being an industrial worker). In this way of defining the proletariat, a proletarian class consciousness could be developed through a subjective standpoint with political education supplied by the Chinese Communist Party . This conception of the proletariat allowed for a Marxist theoretical framing under which

1582-451: A series of revolutions by the bourgeois which resulted in capitalism. Marx argues that this same model can and should be applied to the fight for the proletariat. Forming unions similar to how the merchants and artisans did will establish enough power to enact change. Ultimately, Marx's theory of the proletarian's struggle would eventually lead to the fall of capitalism and the emergence of a new mode of production, socialism. Marx argued that

1695-573: A song of Spring. In Oxford , it is a centuries-old tradition for May Morning revellers to gather below the Great Tower of Magdalen College at 6   am to listen to the college choir sing traditional madrigals as a conclusion to the previous night's celebrations. Since the 1980s some people then jump off Magdalen Bridge into the River Cherwell . For some years, the bridge has been closed on 1 May to prevent people from jumping, as

1808-417: A village green (twmpath chwarae). Many places across Great Britain and the world have begun to syncretize May Day and Beltane customs, hosting events that feature elements of both. On May Day, Bulgarians celebrate Irminden (or Yeremiya, Eremiya, Irima, Zamski den). The holiday is associated with snakes and lizards and rituals are made in order to protect people from them. The name of the holiday comes from

1921-507: Is a public holiday celebrated as Labour Day. It was celebrated for the first time in Mauritius on 1 May 1938, and for the first time as an official public holiday on 1 May 1950. This was thanks largely to the efforts of Guy Rozemont, Dr. Maurice Curé, Pandit Sahadeo and Emmanuel Anquetil, as a day of special significance for Mauritian workers who for many years had struggled for their social, political and economic rights. In Morocco , 1 May

2034-439: Is a public holiday on the first Monday in May. 1 May is a national holiday known as Labour Day and celebrated by workers' parades and demonstration. In Ecuador, 1 May is an official public holiday known as Labour Day. People do not go to work and spend time with their relatives or gather for demonstrations. 1 May is an official public holiday known as Labour Day. 1 May is an official public holiday known as Labour Day. 1 May

2147-414: Is a sign of dislike. Women usually place roses or rice in the form of a heart at the house of their beloved one. It is common to stick the heart to a window or place it in front of the doormat. In leap years , it is the responsibility of the women to place the maypole. All the action is usually done secretly and it is an individual's choice whether to give a hint of their identity or stay anonymous. May Day

2260-422: Is an emerging Durham tradition, with patchy observance since 2001. Kingsbury Episcopi , Somerset, has seen its yearly May Day Festival celebrations on the May bank holiday Monday burgeon in popularity in the recent years. Since it was reinstated 21 years ago it has grown in size, and on 5 May 2014 thousands of revellers were attracted from all over the south-west to enjoy the festivities, with BBC Somerset covering

2373-603: Is an important day of trade union and community group protest in the province of Quebec (though not a provincial statutory holiday ). Celebration of the International Labour Day (or "International Workers' Day"; French : Journée internationale des travailleurs ) in Montreal goes back to 1906, organized by the Mutual Aid circle. The tradition had a renaissance at the time of a mass strike in 1972. On

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2486-487: Is an official holiday celebrated on 1 May, and unions commemorate it with day-long public events. In Canada, Labour Day is celebrated in September. In 1894, the government of Prime Minister John Sparrow David Thompson declared the first Monday in September as Canada's official Labour Day. Labor Day in the United States is on the same day. International Workers' Day is however marked by unions and leftists on 1 May. It

2599-638: Is an official public holiday known as Agriculture and Labour Day. 1 May is an official holiday, known as "Labour Day" within Honduras. May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May , around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's Spring equinox and June solstice . Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve . Traditions often include gathering wildflowers and green branches ("bringing in

2712-408: Is based on the exploitation of the proletariat by the bourgeoisie: the workers, who own no means of production, must use the property of others to produce goods and services and to earn their living. Workers cannot rent the means of production (e.g. a factory or department store) to produce on their own account; rather, capitalists hire workers, and the goods or services produced become the property of

2825-416: Is considered a Ysbrydnos or spirit night when people would gather hawthorn ( draenen wen ) and flowers to decorate their houses, celebrating new growth and fertility. While on May Day celebrations would include summer dancing ( dawnsio haf ) and May carols ( carolau mai or carolau haf ) othertimes referred to as "singing under the wall" ( canu dan y pared), May Day was also a time for officially opening

2938-611: Is decorated with springtime greenery, and every year thousands of onlookers attend. Before the 19th century, distinctive May Day celebrations were widespread throughout West Cornwall, and are being revived in St Ives and Penzance . A similar 'Obby 'Oss festival is also held in the Somerset town of Minehead , dating back to at least the 19th century. Kingsand , Cawsand and Millbrook in Cornwall celebrate Flower Boat Ritual on

3051-581: Is found in poem 'Peblis to the Play', contained in the Maitland Manuscripts of 15th- and 16th-century Scots poetry: At Beltane, quhen ilk bodie bownis To Peblis to the Play, To heir the singin and the soundis; The solace, suth to say, Be firth and forrest furth they found Thay graythis tham full gay; God wait that wald they do that stound, For it was their feast day the day they celebrate May Day, Thay said, [...] The poem describes

3164-565: Is known as Labour Day and is a holiday. By custom, it is usually the day on which wage increases (e.g., the national minimum wage) and other labour improvements are announced by the Government. In recent years it was also the day chosen by the Bolivian government to announce the (re)nationalization of strategic sectors of the economy (e.g. hydrocarbons in 2006, telecommunications in 2008, electricity in 2010, etc.). In Brazil , "Workers' Day"

3277-455: Is known as Labour Day and is considered a paid holiday . The President of Egypt traditionally presides over the celebrations. In Ethiopia , 1 May is a public holiday and celebrated as Worker's Day. 1 May is a holiday in Ghana . It is a day to celebrate all workers across the country. It is celebrated with a parade by trade unions and labour associations. The parades are normally addressed by

3390-460: Is much less useful, but requires hundreds of hours of mining and cutting, and is therefore expensive. The same goes for the workers' labor power: it is valued not for the amount of wealth it produces, but for the amount of labor necessary to keep the workers fed, housed, sufficiently trained, and able to raise children as new workers. On the other hand, capitalists earn their wealth not as a function of their personal labor, which may even be null, but by

3503-416: Is often recited during these days) and Petřín . This is usually done under a cherry, an apple or a birch tree. Traditional English May Day rites and celebrations include crowning a May Queen and celebrations involving a maypole , around which dancers often circle with ribbons. Morris dancing is also often performed as part of May Day celebrations. The earliest records of maypole celebrations date to

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3616-682: Is recognized as a public holiday. Mozambique celebrates International Workers' Day on 1 May. 1 May is recognized as public holiday in Namibia and celebrated as Workers' Day. Since 1981, 1 May is a public holiday in Nigeria . On the day, people gather while, traditionally, the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress and other politicians address workers. In Somalia , 1 May is a public holiday and celebrated as Labour Day. In South Africa , Workers' Day has been celebrated as

3729-435: Is the social class of wage-earners , those members of a society whose possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian or a proletaire . Marxist philosophy regards the proletariat under conditions of capitalism as an exploited class ⁠ forced to accept meager wages in return for operating the means of production , which belong to

3842-588: Is to prepare "podnici" (special clay pots made for baking bread). This day is especially observed by pregnant women so that their offspring do not catch "yeremiya"—an illness due to evil powers. In the Czech Republic , May Day is traditionally considered a holiday of love and May as a month of love. The celebrations of spring are held on 30 April when a maypole ("májka" in Czech) is erected—a tradition possibly connected to Beltane, since bonfires are also lit on

3955-480: Is to sell their labour power for a wage or salary . Marxist theory only vaguely defines the borders between the proletariat and adjacent social classes. In the socially superior, less progressive direction are the lower petty bourgeoisie , such as small shopkeepers, who rely primarily on self-employment at an income comparable to an ordinary wage. Intermediate positions are possible, where wage-labor for an employer combines with self-employment. In another direction,

4068-474: The Comitia Centuriata ( Centuriate Assembly ), proletarii were the lowest class, largely deprived of voting rights. Not only did proletarii have less voting "weight" in the various elections, but since voting ran hierarchically starting with the highest social ranks, a majority could be reached early and their votes never even taken. Late Roman historians such as Livy vaguely described

4181-617: The Comitia Centuriata as a popular assembly of early Rome composed of centuriae , voting units representing classes of citizens according to wealth. This assembly, which usually met on the Campus Martius to discuss public policy, designated the military duties of Roman citizens. One of the reconstructions of the Comitia Centuriata features 18 centuriae of cavalry, and 170 centuriae of infantry divided into five classes by wealth, plus 5 centuriae of support personnel called adsidui , one of which represented

4294-406: The proletarii . In battle, the cavalry brought their horses and arms, the top infantry class full arms and armour, the next two classes less, the fourth class only spears, the fifth slings, while the assisting adsidui held no weapons. If unanimous, the cavalry and top infantry class were enough to decide an issue. A deeper reconstruction incorporating social backgrounds found that the senators,

4407-586: The Kingdom of Great Britain . In Cambridgeshire villages, young girls went May Dolling (going around the villages with dressed dolls and collecting pennies). This dressing of dolls and singing was said to have persisted into the 1960s in Swaffham Prior Sing a song of May-time. Sing a song of Spring. Flowers are in their beauty. Birds are on the wing. May time, play time. God has given us May time. Thank Him for His gifts of love. Sing

4520-579: The Maiouma was a "nocturnal dramatic festival, held every three years and known as Orgies, that is, the Mysteries of Dionysus and Aphrodite " and that it was "known as the Maioumas because it is celebrated in the month of May-Artemisios". During this time, enough money was set aside by the government for torches, lights, and other expenses to cover a 30-day festival of "all-night revels." The Maiouma

4633-543: The National African Federated Chamber of Commerce , and the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of South Africa, an organization that represented employers in the metal industries. More than 1,500,000 workers observed the call and stayed home, as did thousands of students, taxi drivers, vendors, shopkeepers, domestic workers, and self-employed people. In the following years, 1 May became

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4746-567: The Octavia Hill Birthplace House, Wisbech has a flagpole which converts into a Maypole each year, used by local schools and other groups. Records from the early 1730s indicate that May Day was the date the new Mayor of Norwich was elected "for the ensuring year". The "Day of Swearing" occurred the following month - June - which saw the Mayor Elect receive his chains of office . The early May bank holiday on

4859-673: The President of Costa Rica gives a speech to the citizens and the legislature of Costa Rica about the duties that were undertaken through the previous year. The president of the legislature is also chosen by its members. This day is known as Labour Day in Cuba. People march in the streets, showing their support to the Cuban Communist government and the Cuban Revolution during the whole morning. In Dominica , Labour Day

4972-799: The Soviet Union and attended by the top leaders of the Kremlin , especially the Politburo , atop Lenin's Mausoleum . It became an enduring symbol of that period. In Poland , since 1982, party leaders led the official parades. In Hungary, May Day was officially celebrated under the communist rule, and remains a public holiday. Traditionally, the day was marked by dancing around designated "May trees". Some factories in socialist countries were named in honour of International Workers' Day, such as 1 Maja Coal Mine in Wodzisław Śląski , Poland. In East Germany ,

5085-439: The commonwealth , but the only military contribution of a proletarius was his children, the future Roman citizens who could colonize conquered territories. Officially, propertyless citizens were called capite censi because they were "persons registered not as to their property...but simply as to their existence as living individuals, primarily as heads ( caput ) of a family." Although explicitly included by name in

5198-441: The lumpenproletariat or "rag-proletariat", which Marx considers a retrograde class, live in the informal economy outside of legal employment: the poorest outcasts of society such as beggars, tricksters, entertainers, buskers, criminals and prostitutes. Socialist parties have often argued over whether they should organize and represent all the lower classes, or only the wage-earning proletariat. According to Marxism, capitalism

5311-543: The state militia fired on a crowd of strikers killing seven, including a schoolboy and a man feeding chickens in his yard. In 1889, the first meeting of the Second International was held in Paris , following a proposal by Raymond Lavigne  [ fr ] that called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests. On 1 May 1890, the call encouraged May Day demonstrations took place in

5424-521: The 14th century, and by the 15th century the maypole tradition was well established in southern Britain. The tradition persists into the 21st century across the UK. The village of Ansty in Wiltshire has a maypole that has stood in the middle of a road junction in the village since before 1881; it continues in use every May Day, having been replaced by a less tall pole in the 1990s. Centenary Green part of

5537-525: The 1880s. In 1882, Matthew Maguire , a machinist , first proposed a Labor Day holiday on the first Monday of September while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union (CLU) of New York. Others argue that it was first proposed by Peter J. McGuire of the American Federation of Labor in May 1882, after witnessing the annual labour festival held in Toronto , Canada . In 1887, Oregon

5650-406: The 1973 Labour Day, the first contemporary demonstration was organized by the major trade union confederations; over 30,000 trade unionists took part in this demonstration. Further, it is the customary date on which the minimum wage rises. President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo decreed 1 May a national holiday in 1931, in honour of the dignity of workers. All stores and public services must close for

5763-661: The Blessed Virgin Mary . It has also been associated with the ancient Roman festival Floralia . International Workers' Day observed on 1 May is also called "May Day", but the two have different histories. The earliest known May celebrations appeared with the Floralia , festival of Flora , the Roman goddess of flowers, held from 27 April–3 May during the Roman Republic era, and the Maiouma or Maiuma ,

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5876-404: The First of May for the legal establishment of the 8-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace." The congress made it "mandatory upon the proletarian organisations of all countries to stop work on 1 May, wherever it is possible without injury to the workers." In the United States and Canada, a September holiday, called Labor or Labour Day , was first proposed in

5989-665: The May Day bank holiday. A model of the ship The Black Prince is covered in flowers and is taken in a procession from the Quay at Millbrook to the beach at Cawsand where it is cast adrift. The houses in the villages are decorated with flowers and people traditionally wear red and white clothes. There are further celebrations in Cawsand Square with Morris dancing and May pole dancing. Proletarian The proletariat ( / ˌ p r oʊ l ɪ ˈ t ɛər i ə t / ; from Latin proletarius  'producing offspring')

6102-583: The May Day/Beltane customs which persisted in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in parts of Scotland, which he noted were beginning to die out. In the nineteenth century, folklorist Alexander Carmichael (1832–1912), collected the song Am Beannachadh Bealltain ( The Beltane Blessing ) in his Carmina Gadelica , which he heard from a crofter in South Uist . Scottish May Day/Beltane celebrations have been somewhat revived since

6215-546: The May"), weaving floral garlands , crowning a May Queen (sometimes with a male companion ), and setting up a Maypole , May Tree or May Bush, around which people dance and sing. Bonfires are also a major part of the festival in some regions. Regional varieties and related traditions include Walpurgis Night in central and northern Europe, the Gaelic festival Beltane , the Welsh festival Calan Mai , and May devotions to

6328-644: The President) address the workers. Each year, the government approves (and increases) the minimum wage on Labour Day. In Libya , International Workers' Day was declared a national public holiday by the National Transitional Council in 2012 the first year of the post-Qaddafi era. On 1 May 1978, then Libyan leader Colonel Mu'ammar Al-Qaddafi addressed the nation in the capital city of Tripoli calling for administrative and also economic reforms across Libya . In Mauritius , 1 May

6441-467: The Second International. May Day is one of the most important holidays in communist countries such as China , Vietnam , Cuba , Laos , North Korea , and the former Soviet Union countries. May Day celebrations in these countries typically feature elaborate workforce parades, including displays of military hardware and soldiers. In 1955, the Catholic Church dedicated 1 May to " Saint Joseph

6554-616: The Secretary General of the trade union congress and by regional secretaries in the regions. Workers from different workplaces through banners and T-shirts identify their companies. In Kenya , 1 May is a public holiday and celebrated as Labour Day. It is a big day addressed by the leaders of the workers' umbrella union body – the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU). The Cabinet Secretary in charge of Ministry of Labour and Social Protection (and occasionally

6667-649: The United States and most countries in Europe. Demonstrations were also held in Chile and Peru. May Day was formally recognized as an annual event at the International's second congress in 1891. Subsequently, the May Day riots of 1894 occurred. The International Socialist Congress, Amsterdam 1904 called on "all Social Democratic Party organisations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on

6780-542: The Worker". Saint Joseph is the patron saint of workers and craftsmen, among others. Today, the majority of countries around the world celebrate a workers' day on 1 May. Eastern Bloc countries such as the Soviet Union and most countries of central and eastern Europe that were under the rule of Marxist–Leninist governments held official May Day celebrations in every town and city, during which party leaders greeted

6893-424: The capitalist, who sells them at the market. Part of the net selling price pays the workers' wages (variable costs); a second part renews the means of production (constant costs, capital investment); while the third part is consumed by the capitalist class, split between the capitalist's personal profit and fees to other owners (rents, taxes, interest on loans, etc.). The struggle over the first part (wage rates) puts

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7006-605: The celebration in the town of Peebles in the Scottish Borders , which continues to stage a parade and pageant each year, including the annual ‘Common Riding’, which takes place in many towns throughout the Borders. As well as the crowning of a Beltane Queen each year, it is custom to sing ‘The Beltane Song’. John Jamieson , in his Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (1808) describes some of

7119-536: The celebrations. These include traditional maypole dancing and morris dancing , as well as contemporary music acts. Whitstable , Kent, hosts a good example of more traditional May Day festivities, where the Jack in the Green festival was revived in 1976 and continues to lead an annual procession of morris dancers through the town on the May bank holiday. A separate revival occurred in Hastings in 1983 and has become

7232-509: The census, which Roman authorities conducted every five years to produce a register of citizens and their property, which determined their military duties and voting privileges. Those who owned 11,000 assēs (coins) or fewer fell below the lowest category for military service, and their children— prōlēs (offspring)—were listed instead of property; hence the name proletarius (producer of offspring). Roman citizen-soldiers paid for their own horses and arms, and fought without payment for

7345-498: The class of business owners , the bourgeoisie . Karl Marx argued that this capitalist oppression gives the proletariat common economic and political interests that transcend national boundaries, impelling them to unite and to take over power from the capitalist class , and eventually to create a socialist society free from class distinctions. The proletarii constituted a social class of Roman citizens who owned little or no property. The name presumably originated with

7458-452: The community. On the last three days of April, all houses were fumigated with juniper and rue incense. At sunset on May Day, the people held a ceremony they called "burning out the witches". The church bells were rung and people made as much noise as possible by shouting, banging pots and pans, ringing bells and cracking whips. Men carried lighted bundles of herbs fasted on poles, while women carried censers . Then would run seven times round

7571-419: The crowds. Workers carried banners with political slogans and many companies decorated their company cars. The biggest celebration of 1 May usually occurred in the capital of a particular socialist country and usually included a military display and the presence of the president and the secretary general of the party. During the Cold War , May Day became the occasion for large military parades in Red Square by

7684-421: The early 19th century, many Western European liberal scholars—who dealt with social sciences and economics—pointed out the socio-economic similarities of the modern rapidly growing industrial worker class and the classic proletarians. One of the earliest analogies can be found in the 1807 paper of French philosopher and political scientist Hugues Felicité Robert de Lamennais . Later it was translated to English with

7797-403: The eight-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat , and for universal peace ". The 1st of May, or first Monday in May, is a national public holiday in many countries, in most cases known as "International Workers' Day" or a similar name. Some countries celebrate a Labour Day on other dates significant to them, such as the United States and Canada , which celebrate Labor Day on

7910-471: The eighteenth century, the Finglas maypole was at the centre of a week of festivity which included "the playing of games, various competitions, and, according to one account the crowning of 'Queen of the May'." In a letter written by Major Sirr on 2 May 1803 (shortly after the turbulent 1798 Rebellion ), he writes: Public celebrations of Bealtaine fell out of popularity by the 20th century and many old traditions are no longer widely observed. The tradition of

8023-406: The entire day, and the major trade unions of Chile, represented in the national organization Workers' United Center of Chile (Central Unitaria de Trabajadores), organize rallies during the morning hours, with festivities and cookouts in the later part of the day, in all the major cities of Chile. During these rallies, representatives of the major left-wing political parties speak to the assemblies on

8136-519: The fight against South Africa's apartheid regime". In Tanzania , it is a public holiday on 1 May and celebrated as Worker's Day. 1 May is recognized as Labour Day in Tunisia , and is a paid public holiday In Uganda , Labour Day is a public holiday on 1 May. 1 May is recognized as a public holiday in Zimbabwe and called Workers' Day. In Antigua and Barbuda , Labour Day is a public holiday on

8249-547: The fires for luck. Since the 18th century, many Roman Catholics have observed May – and May Day – with various May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary . In works of art, school skits, and so forth, Mary's head will often be adorned with flowers in a May crowning . 1 May is also one of two feast days of the Catholic patron saint of workers St Joseph the Worker , a carpenter, husband to Mother Mary , and foster father of Jesus . Replacing another feast to St. Joseph, this date

8362-582: The first Monday in May was created in 1978; May Day itself – 1 May – is not a public holiday in England (unless it falls on a Monday). In February 2011, the UK Parliament was reported to be considering scrapping the bank holiday associated with May Day, replacing it with a bank holiday in October, possibly coinciding with Trafalgar Day (celebrated on 21 October), to create

8475-494: The first Monday in May. In Argentina , Workers' Day is an official holiday on 1 May, and is frequently associated with labour unions. Celebrations related to labour are held including demonstrations in major cities. The first Workers' Day celebration was in 1890, when Argentinian unions organized several celebrations in Buenos Aires and other cities, at the same time that the international labour movement celebrated it for

8588-476: The first Monday of September. In 1955, the Catholic Church dedicated 1 May to " Saint Joseph the Worker". Saint Joseph is the patron saint of workers and craftsmen, among others. Labor Celebration days existed in some European countries since the end of 18th century - sometimes on January 20 (France, 1793), sometimes on June 5 (France, 1867). On 21 April 1856, Australian stonemasons in Victoria undertook

8701-474: The first time. In 1930, it was established as an official holiday by the Radical Civic Union president Hipólito Yrigoyen . The day became particularly significant during the worker-oriented government of Juan Domingo Perón (1946–55). He permitted and endorsed national recognition of the holiday during his tenure in office. In Barbados , May Day is a public holiday celebrated on 1 May. 1 May

8814-456: The flames or embers. All household fires would be doused and then re-lit from the Bealtaine bonfire. These gatherings would be accompanied by a feast, and some of the food and drink would be offered to the aos sí , the 'spirits' or 'fairies'. Doors, windows, byres and cattle would be decorated with yellow May flowers, perhaps because they evoked fire. In parts of Ireland, people would make

8927-670: The government to establish an official holiday on 1 May. It also called for workers to stay home from work that day. COSATU was joined by a number of prominent anti- apartheid organizations, including the National Education Crisis Committee and the United Democratic Front (South Africa) . The call was also supported by a number of organizations regarded as conservative, such as the African Teachers' Association of South Africa ,

9040-557: The historical struggles of workers and their trade unions internationally for solidarity between working people in their struggles to win fair employment standards and more importantly, to establish a culture of human and worker rights and to ensure that these are enshrined in international law and the national law. In 1986, the hundredth anniversary of the Haymarket affair, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) called for

9153-601: The holiday was officially known as Internationaler Kampf- und Feiertag der Werktätigen für Frieden und Sozialismus ("International Day of the Struggle and Celebration of the Workers for Peace and Socialism"); similar names were used in other Eastern Bloc countries. In Algeria , 1 May is a public holiday celebrated as Labour Day. 1 May is recognized as public holiday in Angola and called Workers' Day. In Egypt , 1 May

9266-670: The houses and the village, so that the witches would be "smoked out of their lurking-places and driven away". In Sweden, there are bonfires and outdoor celebrations on May Eve or Walpurgis Night ("Valborgsmässoafton"). Most of the traditions associated elsewhere with May Day are held at Midsummer instead; such as Maypole dancing. Up until the 19th century, on May Day itself, there were mock battles between Summer and Winter. Sir James George Frazer wrote in The Golden Bough (1911): on May Day two troops of young men on horseback used to meet as if for mortal combat. One of them

9379-672: The individuals who depended on their labor power. Marx argues that these relations between the exploiters and exploited results in different modes of production and the successive stages in history. These modes of production in which mankind gains power over nature is distinguished into five different systems: the Primitive Community, Slave State, Feudal State, Capitalist System, and finally the Socialist Society. The transition between these systems were all due to an increase in civil unrest among those who felt oppressed by

9492-422: The issues of the day concerning workers' rights. 1 May has long been recognized as Labour Day and almost all workers respect it as a national holiday. As in many other countries, it is common to see rallies by the trade unions in all over the main regional capitals of the country. First celebrated in 1913, labor day is a public holiday, and at the same time an important day for government activities. On this day,

9605-429: The juridical relation of their property to the means of production (e.g. owning a factory or farmland). Marx argues that history is made by man and not destiny. The instruments of production and the working class that use the tools in order to produce are referred to as the moving forces of society. Over time, this developed into the levels of social class where the owners of resources joined to squeeze productivity out of

9718-399: The knights, and the first class held 88 out of 193 centuriae , the two lowest propertied classes held only 30 centuriae , but the proletarii held only 1. Musicians, by way of comparison, had more voting power despite far fewer citizens, with 2 centuriae . "[F]or the voting to reach the proletarii a very profound split in the elite and the higher classes was required." In

9831-476: The late 20th century, many neopagans began reconstructing some of the older pagan festivals and combining them with more recently developed European secular and Catholic traditions, and celebrating May Day as a pagan religious festival. In rural regions of Germany, especially the Harz Mountains, Walpurgisnacht celebrations are traditionally held on the night before May Day, including bonfires and

9944-560: The late twentieth century. Both Edinburgh and Glasgow organise May Day festivals and rallies. In Edinburgh , the Beltane Fire Festival is held on the evening of May eve and into the early hours of May Day on the city's Calton Hill . An older Edinburgh tradition has it that young women who climb Arthur's Seat and wash their faces in the morning dew will have lifelong beauty. At the University of St Andrews , some of

10057-454: The lighting of bonfires at night. In the Germanic countries, this became Walpurgis Night , commemorating the official canonization of Saint Walpurga on 1 May 870. It continued the tradition of lighting bonfires. Folklorist Jack Santino says "Her day and its traditions almost certainly are traceable to pre-Christian celebrations that took place at this time". In Gaelic culture, 1 May

10170-472: The official start of their morris dancing season. The Maydayrun involves thousands of motorbikes taking a 55-mile (89 km) trip from Greater London ( Locksbottom ) to the Hastings seafront, East Sussex . The event has been taking place for almost 30 years now and has grown in interest from around the country, both commercially and publicly. The event is not officially organised; the police only manage

10283-414: The proletariat and bourgeoisie into irreconcilable conflict, as market competition pushes wages inexorably to the minimum necessary for the workers to survive and continue working. The second part, called capitalized surplus value, is used to renew or increase the means of production ( capital ), either in quantity or quality. The second and third parts are known as surplus value , the difference between

10396-485: The proletariat would inevitably displace the capitalist system with the dictatorship of the proletariat , abolishing the social relationships underpinning the class system and then developing into a communist society in which "the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all". During the Chinese Communist Revolution , the concept of the proletariat emphasized having

10509-468: The prophet Jeremiah , but its origins are most probably pagan. It is said that on the days of the Holy Forty or Annunciation snakes come out of their burrows, and on Irminden their king comes out. Old people believe that those working in the fields on this day will be bitten by a snake in summer. In western Bulgaria people light fires, jump over them and make noises to scare snakes. Another custom

10622-610: The revolution could address the relative weakness of industrial working classes in China. Exactly what constituted a proper proletarian class consciousness was subject to intellectual and political debate. Marx argued that each social class had its characteristic culture and politics. The socialist states stemming from the Russian Revolution championed and created the official version of proletarian culture . Some have argued that this assessment has become outdated with

10735-452: The same day. The event is similar to German Walpurgisnacht, its public holiday on 30 April. On 31 May, the maypole is taken down in an event called Maypole Felling. On 1 May, couples in love kiss under a blooming tree. According to the ethnographer Klára Posekaná, this is not an old habit. It most likely originated around the beginning of the 20th century in an urban environment, perhaps in connection with Karel Hynek Mácha 's poem Máj (which

10848-531: The strike when an unidentified person threw a bomb. The police responded by firing on the workers. The event led to the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians; sixty police officers were injured, as were one hundred and fifteen civilians. Hundreds of labour leaders and sympathizers were later rounded-up and four were executed by hanging, after a trial that was seen as a miscarriage of justice . The following day on 5 May, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin ,

10961-481: The students gather on the beach late on 30 April and run into the North Sea at sunrise on May Day, occasionally naked. This is accompanied by torchlit processions and much elated celebration. In Wales the first day of May is known as Calan Mai or Calan Haf , and parallels the festival of Beltane and other May Day traditions in Europe. Traditions would start the night before ( Nos Galan Haf ) with bonfires, and

11074-563: The sun up' on May Day morning. Jack in the Green is an English folkloric figure who parades through the streets on May Day, accompanied by musicians, beggars, and various other characters. 'Dancing the sun up' is a tradition among Morris dancers to dance at sunrise on May Day, to welcome in the sun and the summer season. It began in Oxford in 1923, and includes dances, traditional May Day songs, and sometimes other activities such as mummers' plays or bonfires. This tradition has since spread across

11187-494: The term proletariat in his socio-political theory ( Marxism ) to describe a progressive working class untainted by private property and capable of revolutionary action to topple capitalism and abolish social classes , leading society to ever higher levels of prosperity and justice. Marx defined the proletariat as the social class having no significant ownership of the means of production (factories, machines, land, mines, buildings, vehicles) and whose only means of subsistence

11300-503: The title "Modern Slavery". Swiss liberal economist and historian Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi was the first to apply the proletariat term to the working class created under capitalism, and whose writings were frequently cited by Karl Marx . Marx most likely encountered the term while studying the works of Sismondi. Marx, who studied Roman law at the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin , used

11413-562: The traffic, and volunteers manage the parking. Padstow in Cornwall holds its annual 'Obby-'Oss (Hobby Horse) day of festivities. This is believed to be one of the oldest fertility rites in the UK; revellers dance with the Oss through the streets of the town and even though the private gardens of the citizens, accompanied by accordion players and followers dressed in white with red or blue sashes who sing traditional May Day songs. The whole town

11526-483: The usual school holiday pattern. (By contrast, the Easter Holiday can start as late—relative to Easter —as Good Friday , if Easter falls early in the year; or finish as early—relative to Easter—as Easter Monday, if Easter falls late in the year, because of the supreme significance of Good Friday and Easter Day to Christianity .) Other prominent English May Day customs include Jack in the Green , and 'dancing

11639-424: The water under the bridge is only 2 feet (61 cm) deep and jumping from the bridge has resulted in serious injury in the past. There are still people who climb the barriers and leap into the water, causing themselves injury. In Durham , students of the University of Durham gather on Prebend's Bridge to see the sunrise and enjoy festivities, folk music, dancing, madrigal singing and a barbecue breakfast. This

11752-407: The wealth the proletariat produce and the wealth they consume. Marxists argue that new wealth is created through labor applied to natural resources . The commodities that proletarians produce and capitalists sell are valued not for their usefulness, but for the amount of labour embodied in them: for example, air is essential but requires no labor to produce, and is therefore free; while a diamond

11865-621: The world, with Morris dance teams dancing the sun up in Asia, Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, and the USA. May Day was abolished and its celebration banned by Puritan parliaments during the Interregnum , but reinstated with the restoration of Charles II in 1660. 1 May 1707, was the day the Act of Union came into effect, joining the kingdoms of England (including Wales) and Scotland to form

11978-490: The wrapping of a Maibaum (maypole). Young people use this opportunity to party, while the day itself is used by many families to get some fresh air. Motto: "Tanz in den Mai" ( "Dance into May" ). In the Rhineland , 1 May is also celebrated by the delivery of a maypole, a tree covered in streamers to the house of a girl the night before. The tree is typically from a love interest, though a tree wrapped only in white streamers

12091-480: Was a workday. In Ireland, May Day has long been celebrated as the festival of Bealtaine . It marks the beginning of summer and historically was when cattle were driven out to the summer pastures. Rituals were performed to protect cattle, people and crops, and to encourage growth. Special bonfires were kindled, whose flames, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective powers. The people and their cattle would walk around or between bonfires, and sometimes leap over

12204-460: Was celebrated with splendorous banquets and offerings. Its reputation for licentiousness caused it to be suppressed during the reign of Emperor Constantine , though a less debauched version of it was briefly restored during the reigns of Arcadius and Honorius , only to be suppressed again during the same period. During the Middle Ages, May Eve was celebrated in much of northern Europe with

12317-521: Was chosen by Pope Pius XII in 1955 as a counterpoint to the communist International Workers' Day celebrations on May Day. The best known modern May Day traditions, observed both in Europe and North America, include dancing around the maypole and crowning the Queen of May . Fading in popularity since the late 20th century is the tradition of giving of "May baskets", small baskets of sweets or flowers, usually left anonymously on neighbours' doorsteps. In

12430-479: Was led by a representative of Winter clad in furs, who threw snowballs and ice in order to prolong the cold weather. The other troop was commanded by a representative of Summer covered with fresh leaves and flowers. In the sham fight which followed the party of Summer came off victorious, and the ceremony ended with a feast Sweden's first May Day celebration was held in Halmstad on 2nd of May, 1897 because 1st of May

12543-502: Was not established as a public holiday until Nazi Germany declared 1 May a "national workers' day" in 1933. As Labour Day , many political parties and unions host activities related to work and employment. In The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion , Sir James George Frazer reported May Day customs in Tyrol during the 19th century. It was a time for banishing evil powers from

12656-463: Was the celebration of Beltaine or Cétshamhain , while for the Welsh it was Calan Mai or Cyntefin . First attested in 900 AD, the celebration mainly focused on the symbolic use of fire to bless cattle and other livestock as they were moved to summer pastures. This custom continued into the early 19th century, during which time cattle would be made to jump over fires to protect their milk from being stolen by fairies . People would also leap over

12769-486: Was the first state of the United States to make it an official public holiday . By the time it became an official federal holiday in 1894, thirty US states officially celebrated Labor Day. Thus by 1887 in North America, Labour Day was an established, official holiday but in September, not on 1 May. May Day has also been a focal point for demonstrations by various socialist, communist and anarchist groups since

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