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| May Day Trivia
Traditional May Day celebrations were pre-Christian agricultural festivals. Eventually the significance was lost and the practices survived merely as popular festivities. A widespread superstition held that washing the face in the May Day morning dew would beautify the skin. In Hawaii, May Day is Lei Day. Everyone gives the gift of a lei to another, putting it around the receiver's neck and accompanying it with the traditional kiss. Lei Day began in 1928. Some Hawaiian celebrations are complete with pageants, a Lei Queen and her court. In 1889, a congress of world Socialist parties held in Paris voted to support the U.S. labor movement's demand for an 8-hour day. It chose May 1, 1890, as a day of demonstrations in favor of the 8-hour day. Afterward, May 1 became a holiday called Labor Day in many nations. It resembles the September holiday in the U.S. The holiday is especially important in socialist and Communist countries--when political demonstrations are held. ©Paganliving.com - All Rights Reserved 2001 |