The tradition to celebrate the May holidays is already firmly established in the culture of our people. These days in all cities there are festive events, folk festivals, and fairs, and a huge number of people go to the country for outdoor recreation or work on their household plots.
What days are May holidays?
Official May holidays, which are also days off, became two days - May 1 and May 9 .
May 1 is now called the Day of Spring and Labor . This holiday has more than 100-year history. It was on this day in 1886 that workers in the city of Chicago held a demonstration demanding the establishment of a single norm for the duration of the working day. It should have been 8 hours. So this day for the first time went down in history as the Day of Struggle for an 8-hour day (this name was given to him the same year by the First Congress of the Second International, which was held in Paris). In many countries of Europe, in the United States, as well as in Russia, this day began to be marked by numerous demonstrations and strikes, marches demanding better working conditions for workers.
Since 1986, this day has become known as the International Workers' Solidarity Day. Celebrations have acquired a political character. In addition to the demonstrations, numerous sports competitions, as well as exhibitions of achievements in science and technology, began on this day.
Now May 1 is the Day of Spring and Labor. Political character this holiday has lost and is perceived more likely as the cheerful occasion to be glad to renewal of the nature and a little to have a rest.
May 9 is one of the most important days in the history of the state. On this day, the end of the Great Patriotic War is celebrated. The official name of the holiday is "Victory Day". It is on this day that the festivities take place mainly in Russia and Eastern Europe, as the end of the Second World War as a whole occurred somewhat later - on September 2 after the surrender of Japan. On May 9, on the territory of the Soviet Union, they learned of the final and unconditional surrender of German fascist Germany. On this day in many cities are traditional parades, which demonstrate the power of military weapons. The main heroes of this holiday are veterans who, by their exploits, brought a great victory and spared no lives for the liberation of their native country. Also on this day, numerous sports and entertainment events are held, and the celebrations are ended with traditional fireworks.
Calendar of May holidays
The schedule of the May holidays is annually established and approved by government decrees, since holidays can be in different years on different days of the week, there is also a need to transfer the days off from one month to another.
Annually proposals are proposed for the reorganization of the May holidays. On the one hand, it seems inconvenient for a large number of people that between quite long weekends there are 3 or 4 working days, which makes it impossible to make long trips, for example, to another city or country.
Now, when discussing the holiday schedule for the May holidays, many put forward the idea to reduce the holidays in the winter, which it was decided to organize after the New Year celebrations, and add days to rest in May, so that a single vacation from 1 to 9 is obtained. This idea has many supporters, but so far it has not found legislative approval.
However, there is an opposite point of view. Against a large number of days off in May, many owners of manufacturing enterprises complain of losses and downtimes, and also that employees are not working full-time after a long weekend. Optimal from this point of view would be leaving only two holidays - May 1 and 9.