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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2011 17:51:45 GMT
As you know, May 1st is International Workers Day in most of the world, and the fact that it falls on Sunday this year is a real tragedy for countries observing the occidental weekend, since it is a bank holiday that most people will lose this year. (Not me -- I will get an extra comp day anyway. ) But of great importance in France is that it is the day to offer muguet (lily of the valley) to loved ones, to ensure happiness and good luck for the rest of the year. Unfortunately, this year, the fantastic weather in the second half of April caused the muguet to bloom much too early. Professionals were able to refrigerate a lot of the flowers, but one of the main points of the day is that it is tolerated that absolutely anybody can sell muguet legally on May 1st, no questions asked. While 80% of the lily of the valley is grown by professionals in Nantes, thousands of families take their battered cars to various forests of northern France to pick the wild flowers to sell. This year, a lot of amateur vendors still had to get their flowers from the professionals, pushing up the prices to record levels. When I got up this morning, one of the first things I did was to look out of my window to see how many vendors were already in place. At 7:15, I could see the following people. in front of the closed news kiosk where my Roma beggar normally positions herself on the little square under my front windows zooming in on the vendors in ambush at the metro station orange vests for the French Red Cross charity sellers
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2011 18:10:49 GMT
An hour later, I had hopped on a bike and was walking up rue Montorgueil near the center of Paris. It's one of the main market streets. Frankly, I find it hard to imagine that a lot of these people earn enough money to make it worth their while, not to mention the territorial battles that are engaged all day long. I saw lots of the weaker sellers constantly picking up their bucket or little plastic tub as they were forced by other to move away to a more distant, less desirable place. Back in my own neighborhood near noon, business was in full swing. These two vendors for the French Communist Party seemed delighted for me to take their picture. So much for this year...
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Post by imec on May 1, 2011 18:25:00 GMT
Wow! What a lovely tradition - and so nicely documented here for us. Thanks k!
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Post by mich64 on May 1, 2011 18:49:19 GMT
We do not have a National Holiday for this, but we do recognize it with ceremonies at memorials and so on. However, for Mother's Day you see the flower vendors out everywhere offering all kinds of bouquets for the moms and they too are often sharing the profits with charities such as Cancer Reasearch or the MS Society. I enjoy seeing the teenagers out jumping up and down on street corners or in parking lots trying to out sell each other, but feel sorry when it falls on a rainy weekend. Nice pictures Kerouac, thanks for sharing. Cheers, Mich
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Post by lagatta on May 2, 2011 11:01:55 GMT
In its first term in office, the Parti québécois was to enact legislation making La fête des travailleurs (now la fête des travailleurs et travailleuses) a bank holiday here in Québec, bringing us in line with most of the world, but didn't carry it out. Many unions have it as a congé in their collective labour agreements, though.
I was wondering about le muguet with your very warm April weather in most of France.
Love the pictures, very evocative of Paris this time of year. I especially loved the elegant lady of a certain age in her African dress, at the right of the last photo.
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Post by lola on May 2, 2011 13:29:19 GMT
Beautiful, Kerouac. Thanks. I never knew about that custom.
On May Day we usually make May baskets to hang from friends' and neighbors' front doorknobs. Our lilies of the valley are at peak now, from a clump of our great aunt's that my brother propagated and then shared with me. It spreads yearly on a shady side of our house and a small bunch does make a sweet token of affection.
I always enjoy the street scenes. I'm assuming Lettres d'Amour a Staline is a play. Any idea whether it's any good?
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2011 20:18:53 GMT
I always enjoy the street scenes. I'm assuming Lettres d'Amour a Staline is a play. Any idea whether it's any good? Yes, it's a play. I know nothing about it other than it's a production of the Théâtre de la Tempête at the Cartoucherie de Vincennes, which is enough of a seal of approval for me.
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Post by frenchmystiquetour on May 2, 2011 22:34:40 GMT
I was busy yesterday joining the various marches going down Boulevard Voltaire. I had some friends from the US visiting who wanted pictures of the marches so I helped embellish their photos by walking at the head of each group that passed by, thrusting myself in the midst of those carrying the banners to assist with carrying the message and occasionally raising my fist or stopping to strike a defiant Marxist/Lenninist pose. I got a lot of strange looks but nobody seemed to mind me being goofy.
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Post by bjd on May 3, 2011 6:55:07 GMT
I hear your numbers were down this year, fmt. Blaming it on the holiday being on a Sunday didn't make much sense to me.
Yes, Lagatta -- here most of the lily-of-the-valley finished blooming weeks ago, to the despair of the sellers.
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Post by frenchmystiquetour on May 3, 2011 12:18:51 GMT
Yes, the numbers were down this year bjd. I don't know what the reason was but it wasn't as festive as the last march I participated in. I tried my best to inject some enthusiasm into The Turkish Communist Party when I helped them carry their banner but my spirited efforts seemed to have had no effect. In the last march I played the part of an anarchist and covered my jacket in anarchist slogan stickers. After leaving the march I just left the stickers on my jacket and as I walked through the "nice" neighborhoods I got lots of funny looks. Standing on the platform at the Nation RER station a well dressed elderly woman came over to examine my "Ni dieu, ni patron, ni maître" sticker and asked "Without those, what have you got?" and my quick thinking friend Bob replied "What have you got now?". She quickly disappeared.
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Post by Deleted on May 3, 2011 15:20:18 GMT
This echos what is also happening in certain parts of London. Kerouac, is the gypsy girl still around?
Quote FMT:
I can just imagine you doing something like that!
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Post by bixaorellana on May 3, 2011 19:02:44 GMT
I had some friends from the US visiting who wanted pictures of the marches so I helped embellish their photos by walking at the head of each group that passed by, thrusting myself in the midst of those carrying the banners ... FMT, your friends took photos of ....................................... people?! ;D
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Post by frenchmystiquetour on May 3, 2011 23:10:27 GMT
Well, I have a whole bunch of pictures that I stole from my friends Facebook page and uploaded to photobucket, which took a while. Then I spent a while putting them here in a post and when I hit "Post Reply" there were a whole bunch of blank pix saying "This image or video has been moved or deleted". Any idea what the problem is Bixa?
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Post by bixaorellana on May 4, 2011 2:15:03 GMT
check your PMs
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Post by koloagirl on May 5, 2011 23:26:15 GMT
Aloha from Kaua'i! I love these pictures as well as the tradition involved in it!! I wonder what the price ranges are for these - from the small little bunches to the large, lovely decorated florist pieces. We have May Day here in Hawai'i as well - but it is "May Day is Lei Day" when friends and family are supposed to give (and/or make) a lei and give to one another - it is also a lovely tradition, but only goes back to the 1920's. I love lilies of the valley and haven't run across any in years - none here in Hawai'i and I imagine there are none to be found in Paris in September when I'll be there?? Mahalo for the wonderful pictures! Malama Pono, Janet
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2011 4:50:01 GMT
This year the tiny bunches started at 2€ -- in a good year, they would be 1€. No, you won't see any in September -- they are exclusively a spring flower here, like daffodils.
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