Saturday, May 1, 2010

May Day

May 1st is Labor Day and it's a public holiday here. The drawback here is that when a holiday falls on a weekend you don't get an extra day off. You're just off on a day you had off anyway. You don't get to take off Friday or Monday. Oh well...

Under communism, International Worker's Day was an official occasion for military parades, flag waiving and showing solidarity against capitalism. Since the Velvet Revolution the day is generally seen as just a free day off.

There is a general election being held here in four weeks. Most of the mainstream political parties will be out campaigning in Prague today.

These pictures were taken in Prague for Life Magazine in 1956.

2 comments:

  1. May 1st is also a day of love in the CR, something like czech Valentine's Day but fortunately without that consumerism and advertising. The favourite tradition is to kiss a woman under a blossoming cherry-tree or any tree in blossom if a cherry is not available. It's a favourite activity for many many czech pairs. It's said that if a woman is kissed under a blossoming cherry on 1st May she won't dry up... it's same as with easter spanking...

    Šárka

    ReplyDelete
  2. Šárka,

    Thanks for the info. Very cool! I really enjoy finding out more and more about Czech culture.

    Christopher

    ReplyDelete