May Day is an important holiday all over the world, for people from Communists to Pagans and everyone in between. Depending on the context, May Day has a different significance for different individuals, but it is generally a day of celebration. Many of these celebrations get quite raucous in some parts of the world, as many May Day festivals involve drinking, dancing, bonfires, and other general mischief. The significance of the holiday has also changed over the centuries, with the rise of Christianity and attempts to suppress Pagan religions.

As a Pagan holiday, May Day is quite old. Also known as Beltane, May Day was designated as a holiday to promote and celebrate fertility. It was also a chance to celebrate the end of the cold winter months, as the first day of May was also the beginning of summer. May Day celebrations included large bonfires on which people burned offerings of flowers and food, and cattle were traditionally driven between the fires so that they would be blessed with fertility. Many humans did likewise. May Day celebrations also included dancing around the May Pole, a dance traditionally performed by young women bedecked with flowers and ribbons.

With the rise of Christianity, the Church attempted to suppress May Day, and turn it into a more genteel holiday. In the Roman Catholic Church, May is Mary's Month, an opportunity to praise the mother of Jesus. Christians distribute Mary Baskets, gifts of food and flowers, to neighbors during the month of May. In 1955, it was also designated as the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker.

Among labor activists, May Day is a very important holiday. In 1887, it was designated International Worker's Day, to commemorate the mass labor protests and unrest in Chicago in 1886 known as the Haymarket Riots. These demonstrations, along with others, led to the institution of an eight hour work day, an immense victory for workers in the United States. Communists and Socialists around the world commemorate May Day with marches, speeches, and festivals.

In some Western nations, such as the United States, May Day has been designated as “Loyalty Day,” to disassociate it from Communist festivals. Citizens are encouraged to demonstrate their love for their country on the first of May, and to celebrate Labor on a separate occasion. However, the tradition of worker's protests on May Day persists, and the first of May is often marked with large demonstrations in many American cities.