Ehad Bemay - The International Workers Day in Israel
Just like the name implies, this day celebrates the laborers and working-class men and women all around the world, including in Israel.
Israel began marking this day in 1906, and from the 1920s, the Histadrut turned the day into a national holiday. Not everyone in Israel celebrated this day, including many religious circles, because of its socialist and communist connotations.
Although the leftist parties led the country in its early days, the first of May was never declared an official holiday, but anyone that wanted to use his personal vacation days to take it off was permitted to do so.
Up until the 1990s in Israel, Ehad Bemay was an unofficial holiday and was celebrated by many with street parades and parties, but since then the day has slowly lost its prominence.
In the past few years, the day has been going through a bit of a resurgence, as more and more places began marking the day.
In 2008, the Ehad Bemay parade in Tel Aviv made a comeback, and many social groups and youth movements participate in the celebrations.
