La Fête du muguet

‘Le Premier Mai’ or ‘la Fête du Muguet’, or even ‘Fête du Travail’ is a reason for a public holiday in France. La Fête du Muguet, which is the ancient name for the festival, is when you see people selling little bunches of Lily of the Valley in the street. I just love seeing them, and they are most often outside the boulangeries, as they are probably the only places open for business. It’s the only paid holiday day in France when employers absolutely cannot ask their employees to work, hence the other name for it ‘Fête du Travail’, or Labour Day. It had been celebrated on and off until 1948, when it was finally written into law, and definitively established as a public holiday.