Photo by Wolfgang Staudt

Think you know what May Day means in Czech Republic? Think again! Yes, there will be old-fashioned worker’s celebrations—to wit, The Czech Communist Party has scheduled a meeting near the Krizik Fountain—but May Day in the Czech Republic is also the Day of Lovers. Take that, St. Valentine’s Day!

What’s in store for lovers in Prague today? For the ladies, it’s essential that they be kissed under a blossoming cherry tree. As you might expect in one of the least religious countries in Europe, this pagan tradition has more to do with encouraging fertility in the coming year than anything else.

On the plus side for the ladies, getting kissed under a tree sure beats that other quasi-religious Czech tradition, namely, getting whacked with a stick on Easter Monday.

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Photo by peter2403

Both finalists in France’s presidential race, Nicholas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal, have insisted on the urgent need to improve the work ethic as a way to boost growth and jobs. Yet when the month of May arrives, the question on most people’s lips is: “What are you doing for the ‘ponts de mai’?”

The “ponts” or bridges of May are regarded as an inalienable right. They arise from the fact that the calendar contains four public holidays which French workers have artfully transformed into a series of long weekends. For example, next Tuesday, May 1, is Labor Day. So in order to make a four-day weekend, you take Monday off.

Thanks to the 35-hour working week ushered in by the Socialist government in 1998, many French employees are obliged to take off a couple of days of RTT (reduction du temps de travail) every month to comply with the shortened work week. As an article in Le Parisien advised yesterday, “by taking three RTT’s you can straddle the bridges to arrive, fresh as a carp, in the month of June.”

So be warned that work dwindles to a trickle in May, and it is often hard to find public services around these weekends. Here are the dates: Tuesday, May 1 (Labor Day); Tuesday, May 8 (Victory Day 1945); Thursday, May 17 (Ascension Day); Monday, May 28 (Pentecost.)

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