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1st May
Another holiday. Another celebration.
A traditional day for the flying of kites and picnics out in the fields amongst the wild flowers and olive trees
A worker's holiday. Shops and offices closed. Waiters, cooks and coffee makers though are working overtime.
The island is full. Anyone that can escape Athens by car has fled for 3 days in the countryside. Boats, trains, trams and the metro will be on strike. No Hydrofoils will be ferrying holiday makers from the port of Piraeus
The Communist party and Workers Unions hold protests in Athens centre, usually ending in rioting and Molotov cocktails.
Here we make wreaths and bouquets with wild flowers or what we have in the garden. Or can nick from gardens nearby
I used to make a wreath. They're beyond me now so it's a bouquet to hang on the front gate. Roses from our anniversary dinner and a burst of colour from the pots in the garden
The island is full once again. Though the weather is due to change with a drastic drop in temperature, rain and wind.
More a day for tavernas than picnics
We woke up to a light but steady rain. Excellent for the new plants in the garden. Dismal for kite flyers
My sister in law in Germany sent a lovely photo of the maypole up in the village square. I'll Google the different meanings. I love these old festivals
ReplyDeleteThanks for telling me. I knew about Maypoles in England but not in Germany. All these traditions are fascinating
DeleteHappy May Day/weekend. The flower wreaths and your bouquet sound lovely., How nice to see them on people's gates and doors. Much better than riots and Molotov cocktails.
ReplyDeleteThe protests didn't end in violence this year.
DeleteI forgot May Day last year and ended up putting a bunch of wild flowers under the windscreen wipers on the car.
They've already forgotten this day here. When I was a child, we would march in the streets with red flags, and in school we learned how important it was to be workers and to be unionized. There were times...
ReplyDeleteIn many places it's a workers holiday, Labour day and nothing else. Here it's both
DeleteThis post has now appeared two days late in my blog reading list!
ReplyDeleteI remember when May Day was not a holiday in Britain but we used to see the May Day parade from Moscow in Red Square and it would be shown on Pathé News at the cinema. It all seemed exciting to me at the time. Now we have a May Day holiday here too but nothing much ever happens except a school day off. I don't think it is anybody's favourite holiday.
I remember those big military parades in Red Square, without all the armament this year.
DeleteSome European countries celebrate May Day, probably not quite like here. It's a public holiday and there are different festivities all over the country, all to do with Spring and most with reproduction, of some sort