Alva Review-Courier -

May Day is May 1. According to the internet, May Day is celebrated in many countries as a traditional springtime festival or as an international day honoring workers. In the 19th century, May Day took on a new meaning, as an International Workers' Day and grew out of the 19th century movement for an eight-hour work day in the United States.

Historians believe the first maypole dance originated as part of a fertility ritual, where the pole symbolized male fertility and baskets and wreaths symbolized female fertility. The maypole never really took root in America, where May Day celebrations were discouraged by the Puritans.

During the 19th century, thousands of men, women and children were dying every year from poor working conditions and long hours. This Gaelic May Day festival was thought to divide the year in half, between the light and the dark. The FOTLU (Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions) proclaimed "eight hours shall constitute a legal day's labor from and after May 1, 1886." In an attempt to end these inhumane conditions, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (which would later become the American Federation of Labor) held a convention in Chicago in 1884.

During the 19th and 20th centuries, May Basket Day was celebrated across the country, where baskets were created with flowers, candies and other treats and hung on the doors of friends, neighbors and loved ones on May.

(Source: Wikipedia)