Talk:May Day

message: May Day: Quasi-Pagan holiday, right? May poles, boinking in the fields, that sort of thing? Who knows about this?
Hi, Iam Rana Naseer Ashraf from Kamoke Distt. Gujranwala Pakistan,Mob: +92 - 0333 - 8125311 :'Well, I know that in Appalachia (i have folk there') they still preserve two terms which relate to May Day. "The fool of the May" is kind of like an anti-king who might rule over a party... usually this is reserved for any loudmouth at an event who is getting out of hand, but I seem to recall this being an actual folk-traditional character in Pre-Christian Europe... Also, there was the "Queen of the May" or "May Queen" which my mom frequently uses to either mean--"isn't she just as the pretty of the pretty, pretty as the Queen of the May" or "well, doesn't she think she's the May Queen." So it has a positive and a negative. Certainly both of these instances hint at a possible Pagan connection. I would assume that it isn't altogether Neo-Pagan because my folk are otherwise conservative rural folk who don't truck with such nonsense... at least that's how they would put it. My only other assumption would be that it must carry over from some older definition... Like I said, I have heard this and that, but I haven't any concrete stuff. I'll do some research... but this is what I know off the top of my head. --trimalchio
::I think he means Beltane. --Dmerrill
:::Well, that certainly simplifies things. :) I should have asked Sara. --User:trimalchio
::::Perhaps a note could be added that besides geographic locations where Beltane is celebrated, it is a Pagan holiday (which then includes such people in other countries).  --Schwael 13:39, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Why do people here keep trying to insert pagan stuff into May Day, International Worker's Day?  Although they might celebrate on the same day, these pagan things have about as much to do with the May Day that this article is about as  Armistice Day has to do with Thanksgiving.  What would motivate anyone to try and lump something with such a clear root as the Haymarket Affair with with some Celtic rituals? What are the politics behind the dilution of the anarchist/communist/union day?  Anyway, for all of you part-time historians, let me pose a statement to you.  If the pagan nonsense has anything to do with International Worker's day, provide me one instance of a link between the two.  My point is your solstice stuff is not relevant to May Day, its relevant to something, namely what its subject matter is--- which is totally different from what this entry is about.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.37.109.69 (talk) 07:33, 14 March 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: We actually have a separate article on International Workers Day (linked in the second sentence of the article) which does cover the Haymarket Affair (and doesn't mention paganism because, as you say, paganism has nothing to do with it).  However, in some countries (for example the United Kingdom) you actually have two things happening on the 1 May, i) International Workers Day, ii) a much older series of often highly local festivities that have their roots in tradition and, in some cases, paganism.  This article is mostly about the second set of celebrations, the majority of which have been around far longer than socialism. Ka Faraq Gatri (talk) 12:03, 14 March 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Then why not put this pagan nonsense under May 1st (the calendar day) because these pagan things again have nothing to do with "May Day" which is synonymous with International Workers Day.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.37.109.69 (talk) 21:24, 15 March 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Because May Day is not synonymous with International Workers Day in all countries.  Ka Faraq Gatri (talk) 21:56, 15 March 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: If you're going to remove the pagan stuff from "May day", then please remove any mention of Christianity from the "Easter" page, because it has nothing to do with how "Easter" was originally celebrated. Oh now you don't like your own line of reasoning? Let me remind you, from the first sentence of this article: "May Day on May 1 is an ancient Northern Hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday". Holidays change and incorporate new things, that does not give you the right to remove any mention of the holiday's origins. DukeTwicep (talk) 22:46, 3 May 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: Quasi-pagan?

message: * Fascists claim victory after day of violence - NEO-nazi leaders claimed success yesterday after Germany's most violent May Day demonstration. - Neil Wilson - Leipzig -03may05
:The above implies to me that we might want to expand regarding recent may day riots. Sam Spade  07:32, 3 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Expansion 

message: I saw this article listed on Requests for comment, here are my thoughts:
* All political parties organize May marches, gatherings, and festivals with political speeches, those activities are not limited to right- and left-wing extremists. They just get the most attention from the media. 
* The abrupt rise of violence this year was also due to the 60th anniversary of the end of the WW2 and the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. 
* The NPD is considered a Neo-Nazi-party and hostile to the German constitution, and the German government tried to prohibit them already back in 2003. But the court refused because the German government had infiltrated the party with informants. They keep on trying though.  
* May day is still the most important day for labor unions, but unfortunatly they don't get much media coverage.
* The Walpurgisnacht and the custom of may poles are mainly rural traditions, urban regions pretty much concentrate on the political aspect.
* And yes, most people get drunk, celebrating May day with beer and wurst. ;=) Pharlap 14:01, 5 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Since this article is somewhat controvertial at this moment, can you post your suggestions for change here and lets see what people think.  Guettarda 14:41, 5 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: New ideas

message: I was surprized to read in this article:
:"Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands also celebrate Labour Day on different dates; that has to do with how the holiday originated in those countries. "
I have lived all 45 years of my life in the Netherlands, but I wouldn't know which day that would be. Perhaps somebody confused Labour Day with the Dutch national holiday (koninginnedag), which is on April 30th. 
May 1st is in the Netherlands called Labour Day ('Dag van de arbeid') and celebrated traditionally by socialist and communist parties and labour unions. It has never been a national event and in the 20th century its popularity among workers has faded gradually as the wages rose. 
Perhaps someone could add to the article on what day the Netherlands celebrates Labour Day and "how the holiday originated" in that country. Or strike that part. 
Johan Lont 08:59, 9 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Labour day in the Netherlands 

message: I agree with other posters who say that this article violates NPOV. Take for example the assertion that "It is indeed a thoroughly international holiday - the United States is one of the few countries in the world where pressure from the local working class has not led to an official holiday."
First of all is the use of the expression "working class," which is a leftist term. Many people who work are not considered "working class" such as lawyers, doctors, engineers, scientists and other white collar workers who get up in the morning every day do earn a living doing something productive. Furthermore the statement makes the assumption that the "working class" in the United States pressures, and ought to pressure, the government into recognizing this holiday. In fact much of the middle and lower middle class in the United States is very anti-communist and signs with explicit communist revolutionary imagery such as the "PFLP" poster in this article would be considered offensive. I suggest that the text be changed to "the United States is one of the few countries in the world where it is not an official holiday."
The caption to the "May Day graffiti in Berlin" picture is very biased. It says "May Day graffiti in Berlin. The text reads, "1 May: Cars burning, cops dying", a typical exaggeration." The phrase "a typical exaggeration" is snide and suggests support for May Day and disregard for the views of its opponents. This is not neutral. Other pictures in this show neutral or generally positive depictions of May Day. It is not the place of Wikipedia or of this article to be for or against May Day or any other holiday. I suggest that the caption be changed to "May Day graffiti. The text reads, "1 May: Cars burning, cops dying.""
[[Wikimonster 00:46, 15 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Absolutely this article is biased!  When I read it last Fall, it's description was commensurate with the thousands of articles online written by people from the hundreds of countries which practice May Day.  The current statement, "synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour Day, a day of political demonstrations and celebrations organised by communists, anarchists, socialists, unionists, and other groups"  appears to be written by McCarthy's spawn and other witch-hunters.  What moron changed the first paragraph and undoubtedly destroyed the integrity of other parts of the article?  Revert!  Revert!  16:48, 26 June 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Article is biased 

message: This entry should be merged with Labor Day. They are identical. None difference whatsoever between them. US do have a "May Labor Day", it's in September (sic). In Europe, May Day is Labor Day. Kaliz 03:02, 8 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: No it shouldn't - Labor Day is not a British term - stop trying to impose USA idioms on the rest of the world - this is an encyclopaedia, reporting what is, not what you think should be... sheridan 10:09, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

text: Golly gosh.  When *I* was going to school, then, we got a day and a half off for "May labor day".  Pfft.  As stated above me, the world is NOT a uniform place--even in the USA.  I grew up in Hawaii, and every May Day we'd spend half of the day singing and dancing at school, and then we'd get another day off for Labor Day.  74.226.8.12 10:22, 3 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  May Day is Labor Day 

message: I question the implied causality/association of May Day and violence, and I think there is far too much emphasis on the violence which has occurred in Germany. As it stands, this article seems to be rather generalizing and cavalier with the association of violence, demonstrations, and particular countries. May I propose that violence be a subsection of this article? 
The vast majority of May Day celebrations, I would suspect, are nonviolent, but that seems to merit little attention in what we've got here. As I work on the Edmonton May Week website, I would be able to attest to the truth of this situation here in Canada. Here's the mission statement of our group: 
"The Edmonton May Week Labour Arts Festival brings together the labour movement, workers and artists to celebrate the achievements of people’s struggles for social and economic justice through visual arts, music, film, poetry and theatre."
"The goal of the festival is to educate and inspire Edmontonians to work for positive change in their workplaces and communities by acknowledging our struggles and celebrating our gains as working people."
Here's Toronto's (MayWorks Festival):
"Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts is a multi-disciplinary arts festival that celebrates working class culture. Founded in 1986 by the Labour Arts Media Committee of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, Mayworks is Canada's largest and oldest labour arts festival. The Festival was built on the premise that workers and artists share a common struggle for decent wages, healthy working conditions and a living culture. Mayworks' goal is to promote the interests of cultural workers and trade unionists, and to bring working-class culture from the margins of cultural activity onto centre stage." 
Whoa, "decent wages, healthy working conditions and a living culture" -- sounds like heavy, smash-the-state stuff to me!
This part of the opening section in the article also seems sensationalist: 
Nevertheless, May Day has long been a focal point for demonstrations by various socialist, communist, and anarchist groups. In the 20th century, the holiday received the official endorsement of the Soviet Union; celebrations in communist countries during the Cold War era often consisted of large military parades and shows of common people in support of the government.
Ooo, "demonstrations!" So, in effect, we're to understand that demonstrations are typically violent and extremist, even though official unions demonstrate -- oh wait, they only have 'parades.' This to me, reflects the mass media bias towards political demonstrations, and this absurd polarity of nondemonstrating=nonviolent=official=nonpolitical and  demonstration=political=violent=radical association need to be rethought: we need to widen of the term demonstration and say 'how' a given demonstration of its kind took place. 
I hope it's clear that I don't think we should disavow the fact that violence has occurred at May Week celebrations / demonstrations, or that my contributions here are any less part of the struggle over the meaning of May Day. I'm just saying that the main, present-day story is being lost here. It is also lost if we just say May Day is identical to Sept 1 Labour Day. For this reason I like the idea of a section on 'struggles over the meaning of May Day' as I think that would be more objective and put a lot of May Day actions in context. 
:I am from Canada and I have never witnessed May Day celebrations nor have I ever heard of May Day. We have a labour day in September which to my knowledge has never marked more than the return to school. We like May because it is a good month but no day in May is the May day. I don't think that it is possible to say that these two days are the same because.... they are differant days. Which one am I not supposed to wear white after?--Matt D 21:24, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  May Day / May Week in Canada 

message: people are vandalizing this page. editted by 1 May 2006 64.72.84.67
:This is unfortunate, I suspect that this is from illogical fear and hatred about Mexicans. John wesley 19:23, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  Opps! by mistake! I mistook this page for the May 1st, Day w/o a Mexician immigrant page. John wesley 19:25, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  VANDALISM 

message: Surely May Day is much older than this modern socialist stuff in the article.  Mayday's been celebrated for hundreds of years, there are stories and legends.  My gran always used to get up early on Mayday morning to wash her face in the dew!  I don't know enough about this but someone must have more information.  I feel the current page sidelines the real origins of the day.--Brideshead 20:21, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: May Day has been celebrated for thousands of years.  It predates the calendar on which "May 1st" was first noted.  "Fertility?"  Sure, as in "the land is once again fertile.  It's now safe to plant our crops." 16:51, 26 June 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Original basis of May Day

message: Fascinating history on May Day.  Where does the May Day pole come from?
:I guess it's a pagan tradition... Probably a symbol of fertility. Why don't you look it up under may pole -- 790 21:35, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  May day 

message: This article contradicts with the US Labor Day article.  According to the Labor Day article, a September Labor Day predates the Haymarket Riot by several years (it was due to early labor union organizing).  In addition, according to the Labor Day article, making a September Labor Day a holiday predates the first Red Scare by about 40 years, though a September Labor Day was choosen in 1887 to avoid a connection with the Haymarket Riot.  --Amcalabrese 21:00, 1 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  May Day v. Labor Day in the US 

message: I have returned this to the co-options section, as it breaks the world-wide solidarity of the working class in favour of a [[eurocentrism|eurocentric] viewpoint. Harrypotter 22:01, 10 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Euromayday

message: Someone has been repeatedly removing the Germany section without explanation. (Whitewashing by some kind of public relations firm working for the Berlin tourism council?) I'm restoring it. Please do not remove it again without explaining why you are doing so. Kwertii 02:07, 21 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Germany section

message: There are several inaccuracies that someone keeps anonymously installing into the intro. Please stop changing these, or justify them here.
* May Day is not best known as "International Worker's Day", it is best known as "May Day", at least in English, and this is the English Wikipedia. This is why the article is called "May Day" and not "International Worker's Day".
* Identification of May Day as "a primarily Radical Left holiday meant for large-scale socialist, communist, and anarchist street demonstrations around the world": this is patently false. Most May Day demonstrations around the world are organized by labor unions and the like, who are certainly left-leaning but hardly "radical left", certainly not Communists or anarchists, and sometimes not even socialists. Also, the day is not "meant for" anything; this is a POV statement.
* Use of ostentatious caps for "Radical Left": "radical left" is not a proper noun, so it should not be capitalized per normal English usage.
* Redundancy: Please re-read what you edit before you save it. Very often you are inserting duplicate information which requires extensive copyediting.
Kwertii 21:37, 21 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Anonymous intro editing

message: I've added the tag, i think that this article is one of the most confusing and messy pieces of work on this site.  It is appalling, with the many different versions of socialist campaigns, international workers day, riots in 19th centrury America, pagan rituals, it's unmanageable.  
May day is a traditional holiday with a long history unrelated to socialism and conversly the socialist events are important and unrelated to the mayday celebrations.  The article needs to be split and reorganised.  Discuss? --Brideshead 19:23, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Agreed, as I hinted a while ago above Bazza 11:56, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Accuracy Dispute/cleanup

message: Were this the Cornish language version of Wikipedia, the Kernow heading would be fine; but it isn't so I've changed it to Cornwall. (And otherwise, I'd have to change the Germany heading to Deutschland.) Kernow redirects to the Cornwall article anyway, which refers to alternative names and other interesting facts about the county. Bazza 16:30, 24 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Kernow->Cornwall 

message: I was happy to find a section on Canada & May Day.  Unfortunatley, the order of events make no sense.
When socialist delegates in Paris in 1889 appointed May 1 as the official International Labour Day, the Government of Canada — fearing that allowing the proclamation to take hold in Canada might strengthen the socialist movement — quickly moved in 1887 to support the position of the Knights of Labor and their September date for Labour Day.
Does anyone have information that would help clarify?  I will ask 71.246.72.214 to clarify, as it is this person who made the entry @ 2006-05-09T03:47:16
jlam 00:25, 2 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Canada: order of events make no sense

message: May Day the spring festival, being far older and far longer lasting than the workers' May Day, should be first.  Goldfritha 21:23, 29 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Chronology

message: I restored the section on Germany to the version prior to May 1, 2006 (minus the image that has been deleted in the mean time). On that date, an IP deleted the section without giving any comment. . It was not until May 21 that user:Kwertii did what he called "copyedit intro; restore deleted Germany section". Actually this was no copy-edit at all, as this version of the section was new from scratch, and of inferior quality. The new version was lacking any and all of the historical information. Instead, it made several unsourced and dubious claims, like that the decline of May Day riots could doubtlessly be attributed to new police tactics. Furthermore, obvious nonsense was introduced, like setting the pagan solstice customs falling on that day to a particular location on the Brocken mountain. -- 790 09:49, 31 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Germany section 

message: halfway between equinox and summer solstice 68.60.68.203 19:43, 30 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pre Christian May Day is a solar festival, celebrated on May fifth 

message: For what it's worth, the statement (in the article), "In America, May Day is commonly celebrated as a commemoration of the Haymarket Riot of 1886 in Chicago, Illinois, ...," is not accurate. In 50+ years, I have never encountered a celebration (or even an observance), public or private, of the Haymarket Riot. PlaysInPeoria 06:53, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Haymarket Riot: Not! 

message: It seems like May 7th 2007 is a public holiday in United Kingdom and confusingly May 1st is not. Is it a May Day or what? Probably an obvious thing for an Englishman, but not for a foreigner. --Kubanczyk 09:36, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Bank holidays are the first Monday on or after the date in question. There's nothing special about the seventh of May, it's just that the first fell on a Tuesday this year. Wibbble 21:48, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: OK thanks. I feel insufficient information in the article. Please confirm whether it would be a proper statement to add to "May Day in UK": May Day (i.e. May 1st) is a working day. However there is a Bank Holiday on the first monday in May. That's how I understand it now - this basic information is not obvious for those outside of UK :)) --Kubanczyk 08:33, 21 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Date of May Day in UK 

message: Fact regarding that should be mentioned on this page as 1.3 billion people celebrate it and get 7-day holiday (recently became shorter).
Parade is not a keyword associated with May 1st in China anymore. That association has been gone for a long, long, long, long time.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.107.240.1 (talk) 15:29, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  May 1st is a major holiday and very important in China. 

message: The practice of May Day parade in China ended more than 40 years ago, and there was no CCTV at that time.  Since then only a few parades were held in the National's day.  I tagged this part of the article for verification. --Kingdomer 22:30, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually, they don't have the May Day parade anymore. There are usually TV specials on CCTV celebrating the hard work the people, the military, athletes, etc. has put forth. The past few years, these specials always compare China and the US. This could be seen as a propaganda since these comparisons are often in favour of China but the US can't beat China in anything now. I lived in China for most of my childhood and 5-1 usually involves spring clean ups. Maybe thats just in my family. Regarding the "travel abroad", people are beginning to go sightseeing around China due to the rise of the middle class. The richer folks can go to Disneyland in HK while those with less money but can still afford to go often go to some place closer to home.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cars o holic (talk • contribs) 05:43, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Parade in China on May Day is history 

message: I've since moved a lot of information here relating to International Workers' Day to its own page as it contained quite a lot information that was obviously going to be expanded upon in time. This page also needs a lot of work regarding the historical May Day. :bloodofox: (talk) 20:27, 24 January 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree that the majority of the labor-related material could be put in a seperate article since May Day, in this respect, has a very deep and well-documented history. But why move the section to the bottom of the page? May Day is most commonly known as a labor holiday and should be near the top of the article. I've gone ahead and moved it. Uwmad (talk) 02:29, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Information moved to International Workers' Day

message: See Talk:Labour Day/Archives/2013#Merge with "International Workers Day"? for comments on how I suggest the 3 overlapping article are developed Nil Einne (talk) 15:16, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  3 articles 

message: In the section about international workers day, the part where it says "May Day can refer to various labour celebrations conducted on May 1 that commemorate the fight for the eight hour day. May Day in this regard is called International Workers' Day, or Labour Day. The choice of May 1st was a commemoration by the Second International for the people involved in the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago, Illinois. As the culmination of three days of labor unrest in the United States, the Haymarket incident was a source of outrage and admiration from people around the globe."
Though correctly mentioning the fight for the eight hour day, a vague reference to the haymarket affair leaves an incomplete picture of why there is international outrage. It should state clearly that as a result of the US government firing on workers during the general strike for the eight hour day, a dozen workers and workers leaders were killed and executed. This would only take one sentence and would make this article more useful, not requiring someone to read the whole other article to understand the gist of the main origin of the labor movement holiday. (24.7.75.93 (talk) 21:04, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I think you're right. The page is currently semi-protected (no IP edits) due to the high volume of vandalism today. I'll add something, let me know if it sounds okay. Uwmad (talk) 21:35, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Also feel free to edit it tomorrow once the protection is removed. Uwmad (talk) 23:54, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text:  Looks much better. Good job, its still relatively concise and fitting within a paragraph. (24.7.78.170 (talk) 08:58, 2 May 2008 (UTC)

text:  One thing... maybe it is more accurate to describe the trial as a political trial or kangaroo trial rather than a show trial, as instead of a trial involving fake evidence, it was a trial with no evidence where the judge declared that the defendents were on trial not for anything they had done but for their anarchist political beliefs. (24.7.78.170 (talk) 09:51, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I added some material. The Haymarket section is getting rather large now... But it does give a good summary, I think. Without bloating the paragraph too much (there is International Workers' Day), it might be good to add some information of May Day rallies and events. Uwmad (talk) 15:52, 2 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Article as written lacks major information 

message: Since workers day activity and the traditional day celebrations are two distinct holidays (nations sometimes choose one or the other) or ways to take the day (some groups celebrate one, the other, both, or a mix), POV issues (mainly with a political backdrop) occur in the article. As it is now, it's biased toward the traditional holiday, while it may have been biased toward the laboral one till IWD was moved to its own article. To be neutral a disambiguation would be optimal, and it already exists. But May Day itself should be the disambiguation, headed by the holiday articles. Mayday should just redirect to it, as the signal is not as prominent as the holidays in an encyclopedic context. The traditional holiday article could be titled something like May Day (traditional) to eliminate ambiguity and settle disputes. Notes relating the two holidays or ways to celebrate May 1 can of course appear in either article, as those mixing the "red" and "green" celebration traditions mentioned someplace. Thus I'm marking this as non-neutral, as I don't see the solution (to POV issues) as a matter of enlarging or shrinking sections or kicking them up and down on the page. Who is like God? (talk) 21:14, 2 September 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Fine, sounds reasonable. Go ahead and do it, the article shouldn't have an NPOV tag for months and months.Sylvain1972 (talk) 14:24, 1 May 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Handling POV emphasis because of political differences in May 1 holidays and observances

message: Please add a link of our site: www.maydaynewhaven.org/
We put on a May Day festival on the New Haven Green every year.
Thanks, 
Jeff Spalter
203-776-2170
63.22.95.0 (talk) 22:27, 15 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  May Day New Haven 

message: I removed a section that claimed that May Day is celebrated almost exclusively in the Northern Hemisphere. It is actually an official holiday in almost all South American countries, South Africa, Australia, and probably others. Just check the "Public Holidays in..." articles. --137.146.170.215 (talk) 12:47, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Not exclusively Northern Hempisphere 

message: Is May day a compulsory holiday or can organizations make its employees to work on this by not declaring it a holiday. Please advise.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.168.90.179 (talk) 07:21, 30 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Can a compnay in India make its employees to work on Labour Day(May 1)? 

message: I don't think it's wise to imply that the only people who jump or attempt to jump from Magdalen bridge are Oxford University students.  I'm not certain about historically, but this year at least two of the jumpers were from Oxford Brookes.  See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/8027689.stm .  So at the very least the 'tradition' has escaped.  Also the source cited doesn't support such a statement ie. it doesn't mention what occupation the 40 people who jumped had never mind whether they were students at Oxford University or Oxford Brookes.  Perhaps it needs rewording to say something like "yet there are still some individuals who insist on climbing the barriers and leaping into the water, causing injury." Ka Faraq Gatri (talk) 09:31, 1 May 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Magdalen Bridge Jumpers 

message: There is another connection between May 1st and its celebration as a Labour Day. St. Joseph, the Worker, who was the father of Jesus and a carpenter, is honoured this day as the Patron Saint of workers. 
See </http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintOfDay/default.asp?id=1370
—Preceding unsigned comment added by Black beauty51 (talk • contribs) 13:34, 1 May 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  May 1st is also the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker 

message: I removed the following from the article, and bring it here for discussion:
:May 1st is also an International Workers Day, a holiday celebrating the struggles and achievements of the working class (such as unionisation, eight-hour working days, healthcare, insurance provisions, etc...). Workers' groups and unions are often active on this day; major manifestations are sometimes scheduled for May Day.
:Since May Day corresponds with the peak of the flower season, flower shows and festivals are common. The ancient Minoans are believed to have celebrated one of their two "New Year" celebrations at about this time - the other was in October.
:One very common commemmoration is the making of a May wreath which is hung on doorways, balconies, chapels and in many other places.
To be frank, this is useless. It says nothing about specific May Day celebrations in Greece, and what it does say is said so poorly it is embarrassing. ---RepublicanJacobiteThe'FortyFive' 00:36, 29 June 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Greece 

message: Is May 1st really the end of winter in the Northern Hemisphere? 161.225.196.111 (talk) 23:49, 6 September 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: In the far north, perhaps. Most of the Northern Hemisphere is in full spring by May Day. There are various ways of defining the seasons. Jonathunder (talk) 13:41, 1 May 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: End of Winter?

message: No Poland? We also celebrate this day! Whole Central and Eastern Europe too! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.108.173.169 (talk) 12:55, 2 May 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Poland 

message: I included the first image from the page to the infobox. rhyre (talk) 21:22, 17 May 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Added infobox 

message: I just sprinkled the article with a bunch of "Citation needed"s.  The article is poorly written and is loaded with a whole bunch of "factual" claims that are completely unsourced, and it wouldn't surprise me if many of them are urban legend.  It also just meanders on and reads like something written by a high school kid on the basis of stuff his friends told him.  I also corrected one actual error (Philip and James is now May 3 on the Catholic Calendar, and they aren't the patrons of workers, that's Joseph). Carlo (talk) 11:15, 1 May 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: I just reverted your drive-by tagging, and replaced the bullets with a single  at the top of the article. — Malik Shabazz Talk/Stalk 13:21, 1 May 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Good.  Not sure why you characterize it as "drive-by tagging" though.  The need for citations is legitimate. Carlo (talk) 14:38, 1 May 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Maybe I'm using the wrong expression. The spray of  tags throughout the article reminds me of gunfire during a drive-by shooting. I didn't mean to offend. — Malik Shabazz Talk/Stalk 14:47, 1 May 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Citations 

message: Is all of that true and still going on today or should that section be referring to a past tradition? I don't know many people that even know what May Day is, nevertheless celebrate it with incredibly whacky traditions. NBMATT (talk) 12:34, 1 May 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  The United States section... 

message: If the first image die notenkrager magazine is relevant at all, it needs a caption implying why and explainging what is is. – St.nerol (talk) 15:02, 18 January 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  First image 

message: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galina_grisa
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendimaggio  
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlin_di_maggio
— Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.238.118.157 (talk) 10:03, 1 May 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Italy 

message: May Day is only celebrated in England as a bank holiday not 'Great Britain'. 
99.233.105.154 (talk) 03:11, 9 October 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made..  Bank_holiday and its sources say it is in UK countries other than England.  RudolfRed (talk) 03:39, 9 October 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Edit request on 9 October 2013 

message: The article describes the traditional Mayday as a "northern hemisphere" celebration.  However, all the examples of countries celebrating this holiday are European ones, plus some of their former colonies.  Are there any similar traditions from the rest of the northern hemisphere (Asia and pre-colonial N America)?  And if not, should the description be changed? 62.172.108.24 (talk) 10:20, 26 August 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: I changed the reference to Europe. --Iloilo Wanderer (talk) 11:45, 17 March 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Northern Hemisphere", or "Europe + colonies"? 

message: User:Eddaido removed references to the Communist/Socialist/Labor May Day in a wp:good faith edit.  I have reverted those (per WP:Bold, Revert, Discuss) for two reasons.  First, there is confusion among many readers between the original, cultural May Day and the Communist/Socialist/Labor May Day.  For instance, here in the Philippines May 1st is officially Labor Day and is called May Day. We should mention and try to end that confusion.  Second, the reason why May 1 was chosen by the Communist and Socialists of the Second International is because it was an existing holiday. The Haymarket Affair in Chicago occurred on May 4.  May 1 was close enough to May 4. They could have chosen the September date that was already in use for Labor Day and Labour Day in the U.S. and Canada, but they didn't, preferring May Day, and in so doing co-opting May Day for their own purposes.  Because the Communist/Socialist/Labor deliberately choose May Day, International Worker's Day should be mentioned but only briefly, with links to International Workers' Day for those who want more information.--Iloilo Wanderer (talk) 07:50, 28 February 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Added back references to Communist/Socialist/Labor May Day 

message: I have edited the section on Greece to more accurately reflect the ancient festivals, added wikipedia links and also added a description of the modern celebrations. If anyone feels there should be references, I can search for some but the linked wikipedia articles cover adequately the ancient gods and their festivals. Modern celebrations are from my personal childhood memories. Skamnelis (talk) 19:00, 6 June 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Greece 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on May Day. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120815142641/http://anglopolish.com/index.php/en/archive/29-polish-tradition/155-international-workers-day-may-day to http://www.anglopolish.com/index.php/en/archive/29-polish-tradition/155-international-workers-day-may-day
*Added  tag to http://www.kaahelehawaii.com/pages/culture_lei.htm
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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 3 external links on May Day. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/paganism/holydays/beltane_1.shtml
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.flowerleis.com/info/may-day-is-lei-day/
*Added archive https://archive.is/20130103235323/http://www.lessonplanet.com/lesson_planning_articles/social_studies_lesson_plans/29_April_2010/404/may_day_activities to http://www.lessonplanet.com/lesson_planning_articles/social_studies_lesson_plans/29_April_2010/404/may_day_activities
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 05:31, 12 January 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I just noticed that this article is close to becoming a Featured Wikipedia article but the writing is very bland, it doesn't meet the "well written" criteria for an FWA. I was wondering what subsections of the article needed the most improvement?InquisitiveKat (talk) 23:08, 4 April 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Writing Improvements? 

message: I noticed that this article didn't become a featured article because it didn't have consistent citations . a lot of the facts weren't backed up by reliable sources . regarding the sources , I had a hard time trying to find a lot that had information on the subsection Finland .  Do you have any good sources that could be of help? ( 4/5 ) ShayBerry13  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Shay Berry13 (talk • contribs) 19:47, 5 April 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Consistent citations / Sources  

message: What makes this topic a "Wikipedia level-5 vital articles in Society?" I noticed today that user Feminist decided it should be in that category. I have no idea what the stipulations are for making it a vital article, but I'd like to hear them. Fyunck(click) (talk) 06:28, 24 May 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: Vital article???

message: Hi, I'm a new user in Wikipedia. I'm not completely sure, but I think the last part of the Greece section could violate the NPOV. As of 13/11/2020, it reads
"This custom has also practically disappeared, like the theatrical revival of Adonis/Dionysus/Maios, as a result of rising urban traffic and with no alternative public grounds in most Greek city neighbourhoods, not to mention potential conflicts with demonstrating workers."
To me, this implies that there exists the possibility of May Day demonstrators continuously engaging in conflict with people trying to follow traditional customs. As a Greek, this puzzles me. Most major left-wing protests in Greece are peaceful, and incidents of conflict with people other than the police are relatively rare. Additionally, the phrase comes off as rather condescending and implying a negative stance towards protesters. I propose that "not to mention potential conflicts with demonstrating workers" is omitted. However, should anyone provide information to the contrary, I think that something like "(...) grounds in most Greek neighbourhoods. Additionally, there have been instances of conflicts with demonstrating workers." would be more suitable.
I'm going to wait for any potential replies before I make the edit. Thanks! -sdXmJ- (talk) 19:32, 13 November 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: Nobody has replied as of now, so I will change it. -sdXmJ- (talk) 13:39, 12 December 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Greece section 

message: The first sentence should perhaps be adjusted. It gives the impression May Day is a public holiday worldwide, which is false. I live in Canada and I am not aware of it being an actual holiday (day off from work) anywhere in this part of the world. Usually it passes with barely a mention. 24.222.102.222 (talk) 20:02, 28 April 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Public holiday? 

message: I note that your list of nations does not include Russia, where it was a big event in Soviet times, having some effect on the ending of WW2. Does this mean that Russia no longer celebrates May Day? And what about the Ukraine? Valetude (talk) 12:03, 4 November 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Russia?