Thu, 01 May, 2014 12:09:54 AM Helsinki University students cap Manta FTimes Desk Report, May 1  University of Helsinki Student capped Havis Amanda statue in Helsinki May Day Eve on Wednesday. Photo – Lehtikuva. The celebration of International Workers’ Day, widely known as May Day, has begun in the country as elsewhere around the world commemorating the 1886 uprising of Chicago workers to institute their rights.
The programmes marking May Day, locally called Vappu Day, began on Wednesday evening through washing and crowning of the Havis Amanda statue in the capital, with around 25,000 people witnessing the ceremony, according to a police estimate.
May Day Celebrations in Helsinki Wednesday. Photo – Lehtikuva. This year the students of the University of Helsinki achieved the honour of putting the cap on the Havis Amanda statue in the market square. The Students’ Union of the university capped the statue, simply known as Manta in Finnish, at around 6.00 pm.
Similar programmes were organised across the country.
The crowning of the statue has been being done with official permission since 1951 and before that it was done without a permit.
May Day Celebrations in Helsinki Wednesday. Photo – Lehtikuva. International Workers’ Day marks the 1886 Haymarket Massacre in Chicago, when Chicago police fired on workers during a general strike for their legitimate rights, including an eight-hour working day. The firing resulted in the deaths of several demonstrators and police officers.
May 1 was adopted as International Workers’ Day by socialist delegates in Paris in 1889. More than 400 delegates met in Paris on the centenary of the French revolution at the Marxist International Socialist Congress, the founding meeting of the Second International.
May Day Celebrations in Helsinki Wednesday. Photo – Lehtikuva. The 1889 resolution called for a one-time demonstration but it became an annual event in the course of time. May Day was celebrated in Russia, Brazil and Ireland first in 1891.
The day is a public holiday in most countries.
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