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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