May Day is celebrated on the first day of May each year. Depending on where you live, May Day can mean a lot of things. It can just be a day of festivals and pagan dancing around the Maypole. The Maypole is created by covering a tall wooden poll with flowers and greenery. Then the pole is raised up and the celebration begins with dancers frolicking around the pole with colorful ribbons. Another May Day tradition is leaving a basket of flowers or candy on the doorstep of someone you are interested in.

However, May Day isn’t all fun and games; it is also a day of solidarity of the labor force.

Many cities have marches where workers are encouraged to take the day off and join in solidarity against “The Man.” In various labor movements around the world, May Day is synonymous with International Workers’ Day - a day of celebrations, marches and other organized activities of workers and labor unions.

Over the last few years, there have been some problems with the May Day marches in some major cities, like Los Angeles. In 2007, the May Day pro-illegal immigration rally in MacArthur Park in L.A. turned into a melee between a group of about 50 protesters and LAPD. The protesters threw water bottles and oranges at the police. The melee was broken up when the officers began firing foam rubber projectiles at the protesters.

Though there are May Day activities scheduled in Los Angeles again this year, the police are expected to be on alert.

Photo credit: Flickr

Tags: holidays, immigrants, international workers day, los angeles, may 1st, may day, maypole, workers

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
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