dougle's posterous - Filed under 'Holiday'

May Day Holiday

Yesterday was a holiday here in Ukraine, but we had no clue until the night before. This holiday just snuck up on us. Yesterday the city was pretty dead, but there seemed to be a lot of people out at parks and in the forest having bbqs. Here is some info about this holiday for those who are interested:

http://www.bestofukraine.com/holidays.htm

1 - 2 May - Labor (May) Day The 1st of May historicaly has been the traditional holiday of Spring. During the Industrialization of the Nineteenth Century, it became an International Day of Solidarity for workers of all countries.

The 1st of May began to be widely celebrated with various groups of workers joining together and paying tribute to the memory of victims of oppression and for the rights of all oppressed workers irrespective of their nationality, sex, age and/or profession. In it's convention of 1888 the "American Federation of Labour" declared, that May the1st should become a day for the active struggle of workers for the eight-hour work day.

Strikes and Demonstrations were held worldwide. Later, in the former Soviet Union, this holiday was widely and actively celebrated with huge parades and political

speaches on Red Square in Moscow and in all other cities.

All workers of the Soviet Union including university and school students, were obligated to attend the parades, bringing flowers, balloons and posters. Non compliance was met with severe persecution.

Now in many of the CIS countries, including Ukraine, you can still find some political gathering to celebrate May Day. At this time however, this holiday has become a celebration as the day of triumph for "Nature", from which is a full bloom with birds' singing, trees budding, and multicolored flowers painting the countryside. In this celebration people look forward to warm weather and the joys of summer.