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When is May Day?
May Day falls on Saturday, May 1, 2027.
About May Day
May Day falls on May 1 every year and is a public holiday in many countries. Two distinct traditions meet on the date. One is an old spring and fertility festival, kept in much of Europe with maypole dancing, flower garlands and the crowning of a May Queen. The other is International Workers' Day, known as Labour Day in many countries, which marks workers' rights and the labour movement and was established by the Second International in 1889. Across most of Europe and Latin America, and in many other parts of the world, May 1 is an official day off. The main exceptions are the United States and Canada, which keep Labor Day on the first Monday of September. That choice partly reflects a wish to distance the holiday from the radical socialist associations of May Day.
May 1 was chosen as International Workers' Day to commemorate the Haymarket Affair in Chicago in 1886. A peaceful labour rally in support of an eight-hour working day ended in violence when an unknown person threw a bomb at police, and the deaths that followed led to the disputed conviction and execution of several anarchist organisers. The Second International chose May 1 in 1889 to honour the Haymarket dead. Quite separate from the labour movement, the older spring festivities of May Day, including maypole dancing, the May Queen and Morris dancing, are older than Christianity in much of Europe. They are still clearly visible in English villages, in Bavarian towns with their Maibaum or maypole, and in Swedish celebrations close in spirit to midsummer. In continental Europe today, May 1 is one of the most widely observed public holidays of the year.
Frequently asked questions
What is May Day?
May Day is a celebration held on May 1 that brings together two very different traditions. The first is an ancient European spring festival, marking the arrival of warmer weather with maypoles, flowers and the crowning of a May Queen. The second is International Workers' Day, a modern observance of the labour movement and workers' rights that began in the late 19th century. In most countries the workers' holiday is now the official one, while the spring customs continue as folk tradition. The two share a date but have separate roots.
Why is May 1 International Workers' Day?
May 1 was chosen in memory of the Haymarket Affair in Chicago in 1886. Workers across the United States were campaigning for an eight-hour day, and a rally in Chicago turned violent when a bomb was thrown at police. Several labour organisers were later convicted and executed in trials widely seen as unjust. In 1889 an international congress of socialist and labour groups, the Second International, designated May 1 as a day to honour those events and to press for workers' rights.
Is May Day a public holiday?
May 1 is a public holiday in a large number of countries, including most of Europe and Latin America and many countries in Africa and Asia. In those places offices, banks and many shops close. It is not a public holiday in the United States or Canada, where the equivalent labour holiday falls on the first Monday of September. In the United Kingdom there is a related Early May Bank Holiday on the first Monday of May rather than a fixed May 1 holiday.
What is a maypole?
A maypole is a tall wooden pole, often decorated with greenery, flowers and ribbons, set up as the focus of traditional May Day celebrations. In the best-known form of maypole dancing, dancers each hold a ribbon attached to the top and weave around the pole, plaiting the ribbons into a pattern. The custom is centuries old in parts of Europe, especially England, Germany and Scandinavia, and is linked to spring, fertility and the renewal of the year. Many villages still raise a maypole each May.
What is the difference between May Day and Labor Day?
May Day, on May 1, and the American Labor Day, on the first Monday of September, both honour workers, but they fall on different dates and have different histories. May 1 was set by the international labour movement in 1889 and is the workers' holiday in most of the world. The United States and Canada deliberately chose a September date instead, partly to avoid the radical associations of May 1. So the two are versions of the same idea, kept apart by date and by political history.