Soviet May Day: School Celebrations


Figure 1.--This boy participated in his school May Daybproifram. Behindhis back we can see big letters «1 мая» (1st of May) and a top of a Kremlin tower with a red star. So it clearly was a big May Day (Day of International Solidarity of Workers) celebration. We are not sure what this boy did. He might have recited a poem or sang a song. Perhaps he was in a choir. He is clearly dressed up for the occasion. The slippers look strange in combination with the dressy outfit, but a HBC reader thinks he knows the reason. "Often children involved in the program dressed in a special 'celebrational' outfits. The younger children were sometimes no allowed to put on their 'dressy' sandals or shoes, until it was time to actually go on stage. I think the photograph was taken before or after his performance, when boy has already changed hid dressy shoes to casual light slippers. In the USSR, comfrtable warm silippers were commonly worn at home and also in kindergardens, boarding schools, orphanages, hospitals and so on." We are not sure what he is holding. The photograph is undated, but was probably taken in the 1970s.

May Day was an official holiday and this made it a school holiday for the students. As a maor Sovit holiday, however, it was also celebrated at school. There were special programs before the actual day. We have only limited information about these celebrations at school. Classes and individuals made presenttions. Many schools had auditorium or multi-purpose rooms in which programs could be presented. Note the very elaborate backdrop the school here had (figure 1). Classes might present choral pieces. Individuals might give recitations. Poems were popular. There also might be speakers. I'm not sure if parents attended.






HBC





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Created: 12:57 PM 10/31/2008
Last updated: 6:01 AM 11/6/2008