Fire also a symbol of workers’ struggle
On the eve of the Delo holiday, bonfires will be caught again in Slovenia. The tradition is deeply anchored in Slovenian cultural heritage. It originates from the time of paganism when the fire represented the connection with the sun and life. The bonfires were lit by our ancestors to help the sun and encourage the arrival of summer, and at the end of the 19th century the fire also became a symbol of the struggle for labor rights.
Bonfire is related to what is happening in nature and how our ancestors understood it, the ethnologist explains John Bogataj. « Just as they wanted to help the sun in the fall, when it began to shut down to the longer, they wanted to help him in the spring to make it more light. » The fire was also burned at St. John’s wort or at the summer sunny turn, when the day begins to shorten, to which the people’s proverb is connected to the day.
According to Bogatay, bonfire is also very much related to the work of boy communities. « The boys, who are God for the transfer to the boy’s society, burned the fire and set up the younger ones and then measured themselves in skipping the fire and climbing the younger, » the ethnologist recalled for part. « These habits are moved forward today, but increasingly just shell and not depth, and the actual meaning and roots of this custom are increasingly lost. »
Warning about workers’ rights
The burning of fire on the eve of the work of the work, however, roots in the fight for labor rights since the second half of the 19th century. According to Bogataj, the ritual leaders relied on the custom of placing the younger people on Florjanova (St. Florjanwho is on May 4, is the patron saint of fire and the hip). “They celebrated by gathering at a certain place on the eve of May 1st, lit a fire and thus warned employers that they had not yet achieved their rights. Similarly, it is actually today. «
Workers with fire warn employers that they have not yet achieved their rights. Photo: Aleš Černivec
In the past, this holiday had, Bogataj notes, several elements: they organized a meeting to go either on foot or by bicycles decorated with paper or fresh flowers, prepared a cultural program with a theater performance, followed by a political speech with an emphasis on labor rights and finally burning fire. This habit is, of course, changing, including the workers ‘holiday itself, although it is still important, also warned of workers’ rights. The fact is, the interlocutor notes that the bonfires are increasingly turning into village festivities, and the younger time is no longer just a sign of celebration on May 1st, but more and more annuals, as it has been able to see in recent years at every corner.
But back to the first of May. The International Day of Labor was established by the Haymarket protest, during which 11 in May 1886 died 11 protesters and seven police officers. Chicago workers had previously requested shortening the work by eight hours, while the deadline was set on May 1st. As employers did not comply with their requirements, they organized protest in the Haymarket Square, and throughout the US, more than 350,000 workers joined the general strike. The rallies, among other things, contributed to the establishment of an eight -hour work, which was held on the first of May 1890, and so was the international work of Delo.
Some workers in Slovenia celebrated him as a day off before 1900. After the end of World War I, he received additional impetus, in Yugoslavia in 1945 the first of May became a national holiday and a day off, and since 1955 they have been free for two days. Thus, since independence, Slovenia has also been in Slovenia.
Central celebration on Rožnik
This year on May 1st is celebrated on Thursday, bonfires all over the country will be, today, on the last day in April. Many will also be accompanied by a May Day Book, Young, Carnition, Tords and Music Events. The Free Trade Unions Association (ZSSS) will celebrate the holiday of work this year in the spirit of solidarity, compassion, connection, understanding and respect, they wrote on the official website.
Traditional bonfire on Rožnik will take place since 7pm. Representatives of trade union movements will speak: Andrej Zorko with ZSSS, Martina Vuk from the Confederation of Public Sector Unions, Vladimir LazicPresident of the Pergam Health Trade Unions, and at 10pm, a bonfire will burn. Rožnik will be performed by the Road Crew music group and The feather of Lovšin with Spanish fighters.
Today it will be mostly clear, the highest daily temperatures will be from 22 to 26 degrees Celsius, Arso predicts.
Tomorrow, May 1, will be quite clear with some slight cloudiness. Morning temperatures will be between six and 11, with the highest daily from 23 to 27 degrees Celsius. The warm and sunny weather will continue to the weekend.
Traditional bonfires will also welcome the work of work in Nova Gorica, where camp workshops for children will be held throughout the day and a bonfire. The ceremony will follow, and at 8.30 pm, they will perform at 8:30 pm Vlado Kreslin And the little gods. In Maribor, the bonfire in Kamnica will be from 6pm, the celebration will be accompanied by an outdoor concert with ensemble Sasha Avsenik. They will also be bonfire in other cities, in Celje, Ptuj, in Gornja Radgona with traditional torch and rock party, in Kranjska Gora and many smaller towns.
When bonfire, firefighters point to caution each time. Photo: Oste Bakal
The largest bonfire in Zasavje, where the labor movement also has a rich tradition, is promised by the municipality of Trbovlje and PGD Trbovlje. The event will be at the statues, where it will be happy in the afternoon, when they will prepare a mini bonfire for the youngest at 4pm. They will continue at 7pm with a « musical spectacle » of firms, Ines ErbusIgor and Golden Sounds and Workers’ String, which will also take care of the Almsewell to the Trbovlje residents on May 1st.
After the pumpkin traditional bonfires on the eve of the Delo Feast, the Zasavci will wake up on the first of May with decibile motorcyclists and wind bands.
For 50 years, motorists have been taken care of for 50 years by motorists in all three Zasavska valleys, and has been organized by Motorhen, and has been organized by Klukhen since 2002. Given the promising weather forecast for this year’s first May first, it is expected that hundreds of « machines » will be crushed through Zasavje. According to MC Klukhena President Denis Zajcin good weather, more than five hundred motorcyclists gather. The choir will be at 6 o’clock in the parking lot of the former media spa, from where they will head across Zagorje to the bridge over the Sava River, turn towards Hrastnik and make a circle through the city center and return to the magistral and turn to Trbovlje. Motorcyclists are welcomed by many Zasavci every year, either along the road or from the windows.
The watchful path of motorcyclists is always crossed by the Zasavian bands on the first of May, or as they call them in these places, « weeds », which is a special experience at all. « Many people cheer for an hour that day to experience it, » Zajc says.
A vigilant organized by Klukhene and with the extensive, especially paper support of the Zagorje Municipality, is « the only one in such numbers » even on a national scale, he adds and is also entered in the calendar of the Slovenian Motoclub. Guests from abroad are often joined by the funeral, says Zajc, who is not sorry to get up at two in the morning to reach Zasavje until 6 o’clock.
Their awake ends around 12 hours at the MK Kluhkena headquarters in Podvinje 2 in Zagorje, where breakfast awaits participants. « Eggs, ham, bread, coffee and tea, » describes this year’s breakfast. Motorcyclists who prepare the event as volunteers also promise meetings, where local companies always like to help them. « Despite the crisis, for which we are very grateful, » Zajc concludes. It is not a cat’s cough to supply 700 eggs, 25 pounds of ham and 40 pounds of bread as they need for a motorcycle breakfast…
There will be a bonfire in Europe in Zagorje, and the Mambo Kings Group will be entertained since 8pm. In addition to motorcyclists, Zagorje will wake up the Svea Wind Orchestra in addition to motorcyclists. In Ravenska vas, the holiday of the local community and works will be combined for a traditional hike at 10am in front of the NOB monument, and at 11 o’clock, a May Day Meeting with the Gadi group will be held at Ples.
