Early May Bank Holiday (May Day) 2024 and in 2025 year

In more recent times, May Day has been as a day to campaign for and celebrate workers’ rights. In many places, the first day or the first Monday in May is celebrated as the start of the summer season. People organize events to celebrate the end of the winter season, fertility, and hope of the approaching summer.

Crowning the May Queen tradition

May queen is regarded as another traditional event that is celebrated with the making of floral garlands, decorating houses with flowers and leaves, and crowning May queen as a living image of the Roman goddess Flora. In some areas, girls would go out very early to wash their faces in the morning dew. It is believed this would make them very beautiful in the coming year. In Rochester, there is a festival of chimney sweeps.

Traditionally, 1st May was the only day in the year that they did not have to work. In Derbyshire, villagers would decorate or dress, the wells with flowers. 1st May or the first Monday in May is also a day for massive marches, particularly London, to celebrate and demand rights for workers. Many aspects of these marches are organized by the trade unions, and people do attend from both far and near though, in some years, the marches have ended violently, recently they have maintained peace.

Country Life

Every first Monday in May yearly is officially regarded as a bank holiday, and many people have a day off work. Many organizations, businesses, and schools are closed, while stores might though be open or closed, according to local custom. Public transport systems often run to a holiday timetable like the usual day of the week.

History

Historically, in Scotland, the Early May Bank holiday has been observed on the first Monday in May since the year 1871 but was only introduced in the rest of the United Kingdom in 1978. And many types of May Day celebrations date back to fertility rituals performed in pagan times. This is particularly true of events to celebrate Flora, a Roman goddess. Howbeit, through the ages, there have been some attempts to outlaw this type of celebration, because it was seen as unchristian. However, the celebrations have been remarkably robust.

Moved to a Different Date in the Year 2020

This holiday probably originated as a Roman festival honoring the beginning of the summer season (in the northern hemisphere). In the year 2020, the Early May Bank Holiday will be coinciding with the Victory in Europe Day or VE Day on 8th May. The VE Day, in this year’s celebration, would be marking the 75th anniversary of the formal end of World War II. It will be the first day of a long weekend featuring numerous commemorative events across the country.