May Day

May Day, name popularly given to the first day of May, which for centuries has been celebrated in Europe. May Day festivals probably stem from the rites practised in honour of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers. May Day is celebrated as a festival for children marking the reappearance of flowers during the spring. It is traditionally greeted with dancing around a garlanded and beribboned pole, called a maypole, from which hang streamers held by the dancers. May Day is also celebrated in many European countries as a labour holiday for workers, and is called Labour Day. It was especially significant in the Soviet Union and other Communist countries when the May Day parade of armoured tanks, rockets, and military personnel saluting the nations' leaders, was a much-publicized feature. Observance of the holiday by workers in Europe and the United States probably dates from the celebration of May Day by the first congress (1889) of the Second International, an assembly of socialist and labour parties.