Saturday, April 30, 2016

What May Day really means to the French

May 1st is steeped in tradition in France but the reality is, most of the country just see it as a paid holiday, or jour ferié, which means relaxing with friends and family or taking a long weekend, if it falls on the right day.
But the day, also known as the Fete du Travail or Labor Day, falls on Sunday this year so most in France, including us at The Local, are pretty disgruntled at the fact we are being robbed of an extra day off. 

Unfortunately it's not like in the UK where you are guaranteed the day off if it falls on a weekend.
2016 is doubly unlucky in that two of May's public holidays (May 8th as well) fall on the weekends. 

Widespread protests and marches

But there are some French people who take a much more active approach to May Day. 
Labor Day in France is always a designated day of action. Trade unions and other organizations take this day to organize marches and demonstrations to campaign for workers rights and other social issues.
But this May Day is shaping up to be especially tense given all the recent labour law protests and riots that have been escalating around the country, and becoming more violent. 
There's no doubt that these protesters, who are against proposed changes in labour laws, will add to the commotion on Sunday, as they want to build pressure before parliament starts debating the bill on May 3rd.
So don't expect to take a leisurely Sunday stroll through your town square this weekend. 
A tradition borrowed from the Americans
So how did May 1st become such an important day for workers' rights in France anyway?
Surely there's nothing more French than protests and demonstrations, but this day of action actually gets its origins from a huge strike in Chicago in 1886.
On May 1st, 35,000 workers walked out of their jobs, joined by tens of thousands more in the next couple days, leading a national movement for an eight-hour work day. 
Three years later, France decided to establish an "International Workers' Day" with the same goal, but it didn't officially become a paid day off until 1941 under the Vichy regime.
Flowers as good-luck charms
 But May Day isn't all protests and political events. It's also about flowers.
So, why is May Day also called the Fête du Muguet
On the first of May in 1561, France’s King Charles IX was given amuguet flower, or lily of the valley in English, as a lucky charm and liked it so much that he decided to offer them each year to the ladies of the court.
These days, the flowers are sold in bouquets on the street around France and people offer them to friends or family members for good luck.
Unfortunately, the cold snap felt in France at the end of April has slowed their growth a bit, so you might not see as many bouquets up for sale as usual.
A red triangle on the lapel
In 1890, May Day protesters started adorning their lapels with a red triangle, with the three sides representing the division of the ideal day in three equal parts: work, leisure, and sleep.
For those protestors who still wear pins on their lapels on May 1st, the triangle has since been replaced by a small bouquet of the lily of the valley flower tied with a red ribbon.
Return of the beaux jours
The May 1st holiday can actually be traced back to pagan rituals. For the Celtic people, this day marked the change passage from the dark, winter months to the return of the beaux jours, or the beautiful, sunny days of spring. 
The druids would light bonfires to symbolically protect their livestock from diseases.
In northeastern France, they called the last night of April the "night of sorcerers". Children would patrol the villages and gardens, gathering objects that they would then place in the center of the village, giving the sense of a supernatural intervention. 
These days, the last traces of these Celtic rituals only exist in certain parts of France that still practice the tradition of the "tree of May".


The tree of May
This rather quirky May Day tradition that has mostly fallen out of practice involves young men in some parts of France cutting down a tree during the night between the 30th of April and May 1st and then replanting it by the door of the woman they hoped to marry.
It was a sign of honor and also a celebration of the arrival of May: the month of trees, water, and nature. 
Other versions of this tradition saw this May tree placed in front of a church or at the home of a newlywed couple.
Fête de la Terre
During medieval France, this time was a celebration of the season rather than ‘work’, as it was to become. It was named “Fête de la Terre”. This was also a time to celebrate the shepherds, who worked in the land. 
A feast would be hosted for three days in celebration, during which time musical parades would take place with people dancing and riding mules adorned with ribbons through the villages, to an enormous banquet.
This tradition is best preserved in rural areas of France, such as the mountainous department of Isère, or the south west region of Cahors, where the weekend surrounding the 1st is still one of celebration, using it as an excuse to come together and enjoy the good weather, with parades and markets of regional products.
The National Front's "patriotic banquet" 


France’s extreme-right party the National Front is known for its yearly march from Place de l’Opéra to the statue of Joan of Arc at Place des Pyramides in the first arrondissement of Paris, which it’s been doing since 1988.

But this year Marine Le Pen decided to scrap that plan in favor of a huge banquet at the Paris Event Center in the northern part of the city, with more than 2,000 people expected to attend. 
The party said the change is due to reasons of security.
Perhaps Le Pen wants to avoid a repeat of last year, when the FN’s rally was blighted by bare-chested Femen activists making Nazi salutes
Marine Le Pen’s father and the former head of the party, Jean-Marie Le Pen, is ignoring the change of plans and calling for people to join him at the old meeting spot anyway.
“I invite everyone who considers themselves to be without fear and without reproach to gather at place des Pyramides on May 1st,” he announced in February on Europe 1


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