Holidays Calendar for May 1, 2016

International Workers’ Day, also known as Workers’ Day or Labor Day, is an annual celebration promoted by the international labor movement. Celebrated on May 1 each year, it is a public holiday in more than 100 countries worldwide.

On May 1, the Republic of Kazakhstan celebrates Kazakhstan People's Unity Day. It replaced International Workers' Day which was celebrated in Kazakhstan during the Soviet era.

On May 1, several European countries celebrate a public holiday named May Day. One of the oldest festivals in Northern Hemisphere, it’s a traditional spring holiday in many cultures. May Day should not be confused with International Workers’ Day, which can also be referred to as “May Day”, but is completely unrelated to it.

On May 1, Latvia celebrates two holidays at once: Labor Day and Day of Convocation of the Constitutional Assembly. The Constitutional Assembly was the first Latvian parliament.

Constitution Day is the national day of the Marshall Islands celebrated on May 1. It commemorates the adoption of the 1979 Constitution of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, which established the archipelago as a self-governing country.

Saint Joseph, the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, has several feast days. One of them is the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker observed on May 1. It is an optional memorial in the Roman Catholic Calendar. However, it is considered a public holiday in Vatican City.

The feast of the Virgin of Chapi is one of the largest religious festivals in Peru. It takes place every year between April 30 and May 2, but the most important events usually take place on May 1.

Easter is one of the most important feasts of the year for all Christians since it commemorates the resurrection of Jesus, which is a foundation of the Christian faith. Western and Eastern Christians celebrate Easter on different dates, depending on the calendar they use.

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The majority of Orthodox churches use the Julian calendar or the Revised Julian calendar for calculating movable feasts. They include Oriental Orthodox churches such as the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Therefore, Easter in Egypt, Ethiopia and Eritrea coincides with Easter in many Eastern European countries.

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International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day is an annual event held on May 1. It was created by a group of guerrilla gardeners from Brussels in 2007.

World Laughter Day is annually celebrated in many countries around the globe on the first Sunday in May. This jolly holiday was started in 1998 in India.

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Global Love Day is celebrated annually on May 1. Unlike Valentine’s Day, this observance isn’t focused solely on romantic love; it was conceived as a celebration of unconditional love that helps foster understanding and forgiveness.

International Family Equality Day is observed annually on the first Sunday of May. It was created to increase the visibility of LGBT families and highlight the importance of protecting their rights.

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International Permaculture Day is observed annually on the first Sunday in May. It was created to bring together permaculture enthusiasts from around the globe and raise awareness of an approach to land management and settlement that allows to create sustainable, environmentally friendly and largely safe-reliant households and communities.

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School Principals’ Day, also known as National School Principals’ Day or National Principal’s Day, is observed in the United States and Canada on May 1. It was created to acknowledge the valuable work performed by school principals and vice-principals and their dedication to the job.

May 1 is Lei Day in all islands of Hawaii. Lei as the symbol of Hawaii have a very rich and colorful history.

May 1 is Loyalty Day in the USA. This holiday was developed to set aside for the reaffirmation of loyalty to the U.S. and for the recognition of the heritage of American freedom.

May 1 is Law Day in the USA. This holiday is officially recognized and it's meant to remind people of the role of law in the foundation of the country and how important it is for the society.

On May 1, the Indian states of Maharashtra and Gujarat celebrate their foundation anniversaries (Maharashtra Day and Gujarat Day, respectively). They commemorate the dissolution of Bombay State in May 1960, which resulted in the formation of two new states.

Staffordshire Day is the official holiday of the English ceremonial county of Staffordshire, which is celebrated annually on May 1. It was inaugurated in 2015 to promote the history and culture of Staffordshire.

Silver Star Service Banner Day is an annual observance held on May 1 to honor and support wounded, injured and ill service members and veterans of the United States Armed Forces. Despite its name, the banner is not related to the Silver Star Medal.

May 1 is a perfect day for a parfait. Enjoy chocolate sundae on National Chocolate Parfait Day, that falls on May 1.

Beltane is an ancient Gaelic festival that is associated with the beginning of summer. It coincides with May Day, but the celebration typically begins in the evening of April 30. The world “Beltane” itself refers to the month of May in the Gaelic languages.

EuroMayDay is an annual political day of action against precarity that takes place on May 1, coinciding with May Day. It is promoted as an “updated version” of the traditional May Day that focuses on struggling against the discrimination of working youth and migrants in Europe.

In Kingdom of Tonga, the month of May is dedicated to family. The first Sunday in May is referred to as Children's Sunday, and the following two Sundays are celebrated as Mother's Day and Father's Day respectively.

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Some countries chose their own dates to celebrate Mother's Day. Lithuania, Hungary, Mozambique, Portugal, Romania, Cape Verde, Angola, and Spain celebrate the holiday on the first Sunday in May.

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National Lemonade Day, also referred to simply as Lemonade Day, is observed annually on the first Sunday of May. This amazing holiday was established to teach children the power of entrepreneurship and encourage their entrepreneurial spirit.

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This Day in History

  • 2011 Died: Henry Cooper, English boxer, known for the sheer power of this left hook and his knockdown of Muhammad Ali. He challenged Ali for the World heavyweight championship in 1966 with no success.
  • 2011 President of the USA Barak Obama announced, that Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks had been killed by United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The actual day of his death is May 2, but due to the time differences between the USA and Pakistan the announcement was on May 1.
  • 2009 The Swedish government legalized same-sex marriages.
  • 2005 Died: Kenneth Clark, American psychologist, best remembered for important research among children on attitudes about ace.
  • 2004 Estonia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia joined the European Union. The event was celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.
  • 2000 Died: Steve Reeves, American bodybuilder and actor, best known for playing the lead character in Hercules. The popularity of Hercules movies promoted the spreading of bodybuilding.
  • 1989 Died: Douglass Watson, American actor, receiver of two Purple Heart awards for his service in World War II. He is best remembered for roles in movies Julius Caesar, Sayonara and The Money Pit.
  • 1986 Born: Emilia Clarke, English actress, best known for her role as Daenerys Targaryen in TV series Game of Thrones. She also debuted at Broadway with Breakfast at Tiffany's in 2013.
  • 1982 Born: Jamie Dornan, American actor, model, and musician, best remembered for the role in the TV series The Fall and portraying the titular character of Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey.
  • 1978 Naomi Uemura from Japan, traveling by dog sled, reached the North Pole. He became the first person to reach the North Pole alone.
  • 1976 Died: Alexandros Panagoulis, Greek politician and poet. He is famous for his attempt to assassinate dictator Georgios Papadopoulos in 1968 and the tortures he was subjected to during his detention. He was elected to the Greek parliament as a member of the Center Union after the restoration of democracy.
  • 1973 Died: Asger Jorn, Danish painter and sculptor, a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA and the Situationist International. His best remembered for painting Stalingrad, depicting one of the most frightful events of the Second World War.
  • 1956 MInamata disease, a neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning, was officially discovered, when a doctor in Japan reported an epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system.
  • 1946 Born: John Woo, Hong Kong director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his chaotic action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and frequent use of slow-motion. He directed several notable Hong Kong films. His Hollywood career includes such films as Mission Impossible II, Hard Target and Broken Arrow.
  • 1945 Died: Joseph Goebbels, German politician, Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945. He was the closest associates and most devoted followers of Adolf Hitler. After Hitler's death, Goebbels and his wife committed suicide in the Reich Garden outside the Führerbunker. Their children were also killed by having cyanide pills inserted into their mouths by their mother, Magda.
  • 1945 A German newsreader officially announced that Adolf Hitler had fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany. The Soviet flag was raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin.
  • 1916 Born: Glenn Ford, American actor from Hollywood's Golden Era, the winner of a Golden Globe Award as Best Actor. His career lasted over 50 years and he starred in Pocketful of Miracles, Superman Returns, Superman, A Stolen Life, Experiment in Terror, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse etc.
  • 1904 Died: Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer. He is best remembered for Symphony No. 9 From the New World, opera Rusalka etc.
  • 1900 A dust explosion in mine killed over 200 men were killed in Scofield, Utah. At that point it was the worst mining accident in American history.
  • 1881 Born: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French-American priest, palaeontologist, and philosopher. His writing were censored by the Catholic Church because of his views on original sin. Yet he is best remembered for works in paleontology and discovery of the Peking Man, the nearest relative of Pithecanthropus from Java.
  • 1873 Died: David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer of Africa. He devoted most of his life to exploration of African continent.
  • 1852 Born: Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spanish neuroscientist and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate for his work on the structure of nervous system. He is widely regarded as the father of modern neuroscience.
  • 1851 Born: Laza Lazarević, Serbian psychiatrist and neurologist, one of the greatest figures of his time in the science of medicine and one of the greatest Serbian writers of the 19th century.
  • 1848 Born: Adelsteen Normann, Norwegian painter, noted for landscapes of Norway. His fjord paintings made Norwegian fjords a more popular tourist destination.
  • 1840 The world's first official adhesive postage stamp was issued in the United Kingdom. The mark is called Penny Black, it features a profile of the Queen Victoria on a black background.
  • 1824 Born: Alexander William Williamson, English chemist and academic, best known for the development of ether synthesis, named after him.
  • 1772 Died: Gottfried Achenwall, German economist and jurist, counted among the inventors of modern science of statistics.
  • 1707 The Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were joined by the Act of Union to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.
  • 1672 Born: Joseph Addison, English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician. He is considered as the first European journalist.
  • 1328 The Kingdom of England recognized the Kingdom of Scotland as an independent state, that was set by the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton.