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Happy May Day!
PETER FROST looks at the twin historical stories of why we are celebrating May Day today

WORKERS all over the world will come together to demonstrate and celebrate May Day — the international workers’ holiday.

May Day has always been a red festival and long before that it has been a widely known green countryside celebration marking the rebirth and regrowth of nature — the rekindling of life after winter.

In this article I’ll try to explore these two parallel histories of this important day. I’ll start with the workers’ celebration when red banners fly in the spring sunshine all across the globe and go on to another, more traditional, celebration of the end of winter and the approach of the better weather of summer.

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