May Day otherwise known as international workers’ day or Labour Day in short, is celebrated around the globe in different styles. Unlike here in the UK where you have the add skirmishes between police and protester; elsewhere people celebrate or commemorate the occasion differently. You could take a short break to Paris, Beijing, Havana and Pyongyang, North Korea to be part of the occasion.
Nowhere celebrate “May Day” like Cuba; May Day in Havana has to be seen to be believed. On an island with a population of 11 million, it is estimated that about 6 million take part in May Day celebrations and more than 1 million gather in Plaza de la Revolucion, making it the largest annual gathering after the Mecca pilgrimage.
International workers’ day in Paris is another big occasion; everything in the city bar the Eiffel Tower closes for La Fete du Travail, which sees the main unions march through east Paris. The Bastille is a good place to hangout during the parade.
In Beijing, China, they celebrate Labour Day for three days, although most people take the whole week off. While this means you’re unlikely to have of the major sites to yourself, it also makes for a great atmosphere as the major parks and squares will be teeming with people out in celebration. The main event, though takes place in Tiananmen Square.
Like its Chinese neighbour, the North Koreans take their May Day celebration seriously. A good place to hangout during the celebration is in Pyongyang’s central Kim II-Sung Square, where it is a little les serious.