February 11, 2026 01:05 pm (IST)
Follow us:
India joins rest of the world in celebrating May Day
New Delhi, May 1 (IBNS): India on Friday joined the rest of the world in commemorating May Day, which is observed as a public holiday in many countries.
May Day is related to the Celtic festival of Beltane and the Germanic festival of Walpurgis Night.
May Day falls exactly half a year from Nov 1, another cross-quarter day which is also associated with various northern European pagan and the year in the Northern hemisphere, and it has traditionally been an occasion for popular and often raucous celebrations.
May Day is also known as International Workers' Day. It is a celebration of the international labour movement and left-wing movements.
The day generally witnesses organized street demonstrations and marches hosted by working people and their labour unions across most parts of the world.
May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries. It is also celebrated as holiday unofficially in many other countries.
May Day is a nationwide bank and public holiday in India.
The holiday is tied to labour movements for communist and socialist political parties.
In Maharashtra and Gujarat, it is officially called Maharashtra Day ('Maharashtra Din') and Gujarat Day respectively, since on this day in 1960 each attained statehood, after the old Bombay State became divided on linguistic lines.
The first May Day celebration in India was organised in Madras (now Chennai) by the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan on May 1, 1923.
This was also the first time the red flag was used in India.
To mark the occasion, popular search engine Google decorated its homepage with a colourful doodle dedicated to the day.
It used a G clamp, a pair of gloves, rolls of insulating tape, a wrench and a measuring tape along with a few stray screws to form the Google logo.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Latest Headlines
‘Success can’t be measured by clean roads or good salaries’: Why an NRI left Canada for India
Tue, Feb 10 2026
‘My savings rate hit 90%’: Former Microsoft techie on why moving back to India was a life upgrade
Tue, Feb 10 2026
Top Window Accessories for Winter Protection
Fri, Feb 06 2026
Vintage automobiles steal the show at The Lake Club, Kolkata
Tue, Feb 03 2026
Heritage walk traces Medical College Kolkata’s 192-year journey of medicine, reform and nation-building
Mon, Feb 02 2026
Mahindra turns up style quotient with Thar ROXX STAR EDN—all-black, bold and award-winning
Sat, Jan 24 2026
No booze, no DJ, just bhajans: How Gen Z is redefining clubbing
Fri, Jan 23 2026
No booze, no DJ, just bhajans: How Gen Z is redefining clubbing
Fri, Jan 23 2026