1 Maya (May, 1st)

Tomorrow is the first day of May and we (I mean in Russia and some Post Soviet Countries) celebrate another holiday. It's devoted to labor. Well, some people say the history of the holiday goes back to ancient Rome (where they celebrated the begining of sowing and prayed for the goddess of fertility Maya). Later in America in 1886 there was some riots organized by socialists and communists organisations in the USA and Canada. There were six people killed during such a demonstration in Chicago. In return they set up a bomb and killed several policemen, 4 people were sentenced to death. In 1889 II International Congress (don't know the right term for it, sorry) suggested celebrating the day as the Labour Day.

In Russia the holiday was first celebrated in 1890. At first the demonstration on that day were unofficial. In 1917 there were held official demonstration (yeah, we had already Soviet government back then). And so it went till 1992 when it was renamed in the Spring and Labour Day. The motto of the day was "Peace, Labour, May"

Now we don't have any particular demonstrations like we used to back in Soviet times (I even remember participating in one of them when I was a kid). Only some socialist and communist parties gather their followers in the center of Moscow. But everything goes rather peacefully. The majority of population is just enjoying another free-of-duty day, going for a holiday or staying with a family. As it coincides with the begining of cropping season many people go to their country houses.

Bellow you'll find some posters from Soviet times.