May Day and Loyalty Day

Date of Celebration : 1st. MAY

Loyalty Day is observed on May 1 in the United States. It is a day set aside for the reaffirmation of loyalty to the United States and for the recognition of the heritage of American freedom. The holiday was first celebrated in the 1930s as Americanization Day, and was intended to serve as a counterweight to May Day, which was celebrated as a Communist holiday. Loyalty Day is celebrated with parades and ceremonies in communities across the United States, although many people in the United States remain unaware of it. Although a legal holiday, it is not a federal holiday. Loyalty Day was made an official holiday by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on May 1, 1958, under pressure from United States Senator Karl Mundt and Representative James E. Van Zandt.

The Maypole celebration apart, the May Day is also important to all average Americans for yet another reason. The Loyalty Day. Americans today celebrate May Day as a Loyalty Day. The day of parades of veterans, drum and bugle corps, Boy Scouts, visits to national shrines and doing things in the honor of the patriots. Schools, churches, fraternal societies and different organizations come alive tosponsor these events. The motto is to instill the zeal to 'remain loyal to America'. Specially among the children and the youth. Indeed, it is a day, meant for making all of you in America feel proud of your country. The county to which you belong. However, its origin is not rooted long ago. Though the exact beginning of the date of observance is not known, the concept stemmed in the early 1930s. The bid to celebrate May Day as Loyalty Day came in rather as a counteractive bid. A bid to counteract the May Day Communist exhibitions in the United States. Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars thought that a challenge must be given to what they considered as the 'disruptive forces of the communism'. And they wanted that the loyalty of Americans to the American ideals must be asserted to prevent the growth of communism in America. So, in the early 1930s they began urging the institution of war veterans with organized parades and ceremonies. Other patriotic organizations joined in. And with the help of speaker's bureaus and an extensive letter-writing campaign, celebrations on the theme of loyalty to America took hold. This was aided by patriotic plays, oratory contests on national issues and tours to national shrines. These were sponsored by schools, churches, labor unions, fraternal societies and other groups.