May Day/International Workers’ Day

The Celts of the British Isles believed May 1 to be the most important day of the year, when the festival of Beltane was held. Welcoming a change of season (spring in the Northern Hemisphere), symbolic fire was one of the main rituals of the festival, helping to celebrate the return of life and fertility to the world. In the 19th century, May Day took on a new meaning, as an International Workers’ Day grew out of the 19th-century labor movement for worker’s rights and an eight-hour workday in the United States.