Happy May Day to you too! May Day, as you know, originates in the US in the fight for the 8 hour day. (I noticed that someone flagged your post. I wonder, did they flag it with a red flag? LOL)

Now, now, guys. You're BOTH right. The pagan May Day, aka Beltane, originates in Northern Europe (though not exclusively England). I think Dennis is right that the political May Day originated in the US.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by, and happy May Day to you both, however you celebrate it. Me, I'm still in favor of combining the two. Jumping the Beltane fire while belting out the Internationale - that's the ticket to happiness!

Funny, I thought jumping the fire, pole dancing, etc was done, in pagan Europe, on June 24, not on May 1, with the antlers of a deer on the heald of the youngest Alpha Male of the tribe and the right for all the females to frolick and get their chance to be thus inseminated by the future tribe leader.
In any case, where can we find "le muguet du Premier Mai"? (French tradition of offering three springs of lily-of-the-valley on May 1)

May Day as a Labor celebration began in the US after the Haymarket Riots, which were - as Dennis says - about the fight for an 8-hr day. May 1 was the date of a big Labor convention (the 2nd Internationale). The riots began 3 days later. I did a long post about it at my old Haymarket Square blog which was devoted to Labor history.

Thanks for doing this. I did it for years and was ignored so I didn't this year, figuring you'd do a better job. And you did. Altho, I haven't seen a May Day Labor event anywhere (in the US anyway) in more than 20 years. But if you say they still exist, I believe you.

Thanks, Mick. I thought I remembered that it came out of Haymarket, but I wasn't sure and didn't have time yesterday to check.

At least in San Francisco and New York, there were May Day events yesterday. They were billed as immigrants' rights marches, but had strong labor support and labor contingents. Those were the events I was referring to.

May Day 2010 is a Saturday. I'm very much hoping that during the course of the coming year, organized labor will find itself forced to become more militant and vocal in response to the fallout from the economic crisis. So next year, maybe we'll see a REAL May Day hullabaloo!

Sarah: Bouquets de muguets pour vous! I wasn't aware of that custom, but it's charming. The Celtic Beltane is definitely a May 1 holiday, and so is the related Nordic/Teutonic Walpurgisnacht. I think that is the date for fertility rites involving the Horned God. Your June 24 holiday sounds like Solstice or Midsummer, which is also celebrated with bonfires.

But I'm not an expert on this stuff - just an interested amateur. I'm an atheist, on principle (dialectical materialism & all that jazz), but if I had a religion, it would probably be wiccan or neopagan. It's my preferred set of metaphors for the transcendant.

happy may day to you too!

Happy belated May Day to you!

Thank you, myopia and aaron. Here's to a bigger and better International Workers' Day celebration in the US next year!