Today is Labor Day here in France.
It's a Legal holiday, and a day for Trade Unions to demonstrate in the streets of big cities, France is a country where people love to do demos when they disagree with something (that happens all the time  ), we call it "descendre dans la rue" (to go down the street).
We also have another nice tradition on May 1rst, we offer each others a spray of Lily of the valley as a lucky charm. I have heard on the radio that it came from king Charles VII (around 1600).
People are allowed to sell the Lily of the valley on the streets to earn some money (this flower grows everywhere in forest or garden in most part of France) on may 1rst only.
Nobody goes to work on Labor Day, everything is closed, we have 3 more legal holidays in May, that's why it is one of the French favorite month 
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• Monday 1 May 2006 - Untitled Comment
Your Lily of the Valley tradition sounds beatiful! We have Labour Day holiday here today too but we call it Vappu and most people probably don't associate the day with labour anymore but there are some demonstrations. It's a bit like a carnival: we decorate places with balloons and streamers and some people wear costumes too. There's also a huge picnic in a park in Helsinki.We were there too and it was really nice. The weather was beautiful too : )
Have a nice day!
Ilona
PS. Do you remember what the tourism advertisements said about Finland? I'm curious to know how they advertise Finland in France : )