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Why is the first of May named May Day? The first of May is, in our country and many other countries the world over, called Labour Day or the Workers’ Day, and trade unions, factory workers and other men and women working in other places like the harbour, and tea plantations, come out on to the streets, shouting slogans, airing their grievances and making their demands. They march in procession and hold meetings in public grounds like parks. It is their day, the Workers’ Day, a day set apart for them, just as you children have October first set apart for you, and October 6 for your teachers. How come that this day set apart for the workers of the world is designated (named) May Day? Long, long before May Day became the Workers’ Day, it was a holiday celebrated in various ways in various countries of Europe.
May Day is the first day in the fifth month of the year - the third in the old Roman calendar. I explained about this in the March 1 issue of the Junior Observer. The month was named in honour of the Greek Goddess Maia. She was not a famous goddess like Juno, whose name has been given to the following month, but, she had a famous father Atlas, who, in Greek mythology is said to carry the world on his shoulders. The name rings a bell, doesn’t it? The book of maps in your school bag, has been given that name, because this giant of a god held up the world on his shoulders. Maia also had a famous son, Hermes, the messenger of the gods. In course of time, Maia got identified with a Roman goddess, Flora, the goddess of growth and spring, of fruits and flowers. The Romans had a festival on the first day of the month named Maia. The custom of celebrating the first day of the ‘month of fruits and flowers’ was observed in other countries too. In England, May Day was a festive occasion in the villages. The people gathered on the village ‘Green’ to elect a May Queen, the same as we elect an ‘Avurudu Kumari’. The girls and boys danced round a May Pole. The pole was painted and decorated with flowers and ribbons. The children danced round the May Pole each holding a ribbon.
The May Pole dance and the election of the May Queen has come down to this day. At one time in days gone by, when your grandmother was in school, our school girls too did the May Pole dance, but not on the first of May as part of May Day celebrations. How and when did May Day become ‘Workers’ Day? I looked up an encyclopedia and this is what it says: “The American Federation of Labour named May 1 1886, as the date on which intensive agitation for the eight hour day would begin.” For sometime before this date, factory workers in America were grumbling about and protesting against the long hours of work and demanding shorter working hours. Women were in the forefront of this agitation.
The encyclopedia states further: “This established May Day as a labour day, widely observed by strikes, demonstrations, parades, speeches, and other activities. Violent clashes with the police often occurred. “The International Workingmen’s Congress in Paris in 1889 urged world-wide demonstrations for the eight-hour day on the following first of May. (that is in May 1890). This identified May Day as an international labour holiday.” (New Standard Encyclopedia). So, this is how May Day became Labour Day. It was the Russian Revolution of 1917 that gave a push to the May Day celebrations in Russia. The annual celebrations on May Day was an important event in Communist countries from China through East Europe to Cuba. In Sri Lanka, May Day was first celebrated in 1956, shortly after S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike formed his government in April 1956. T.B. Illangarathna, the Minister for Labour in the new cabinet declared May 1 a worker’s holiday, since then May 1 is celebrated as the Workers Day or Labour Day and it is also a Public, Bank and Mercantile Holiday. |
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