This year, each weekend in May provided something to celebrate or commemorate.
May 1st and May 8th fell on Saturdays. The weekend after that was the four day Ascension holiday so Pentecost or Whitsun (celebrated one week afterwards) also came in May rather than in early June. Since there were five Sundays this May, there was one left for "la Fête des Mères" (Mothers’ Day), celebrated here either the last Sunday in May or the first in June -- depending on the date of Pentecost.
We almost lost Pentecost to the heat wave in 2003. People were distraught at the 15000 deaths, mostly of the elderly, that year. The government decided to institute a National Day of Solidarity for the Elderly and Handicapped. Employees would work one day more per year and employers would pay one day’s salary per employee into a special fund which would make grants to various institutions that cared for this segment of the population. I believe, perhaps naively, that if the law had been passed in September 2003, there would have been little protest. But, when it finally was -- on June 30th, 2004 -- people had had nearly a year to forgot how shocked they had been -- and a year to remember how much they really needed every holiday they had been used to.
The law named Whit Monday as the day people would work. I’m sure it seemed logical to the legislators, because of the other holidays in May. But there was a huge outcry. The unions cried exploitation. The area around Nîmes foretold economic disaster as its 5 day Whitsun bull fighting festival would suffer greatly without the long weekend. I, too, thought it was a shame to destroy a centuries-old tradition – until I discovered that this Festival, started in 1952, wasn’t even as old as I am!
Confusion reigned until March 2008 when the law was – no, no, not repealed but amended. Whit Monday was re-established as a public holiday AND the idea of a National Day of Solidarity was maintained. Employees must still work one day more than they used to – but it can be any day their company decides. (I think most give employees one vacation day less per year – no hardship for any but the most principled fighters against capitalist exploitation of workers.) This year people felt particularly fortunate that the holiday had been re-established. It was a gloriously warm weekend – the only one of the month.
The "Jeunes Agriculteurs" (a farmers’ union for younger agricultural workers and farmers) were, no doubt, especially thankful for the weather as they had prepared a treat for all those spending that weekend in Paris. On Saturday night (May 22nd) , the entire length of the Champs Elysées was transformed into a showcase of French agriculture which 1.9 million people (including me) visited on Sunday and Monday.
At the Arc de Triomphe end, 650 trees from all regions of France were displayed
Young agricultural workers and students greeted us and answered any questions.
The trees were followed by sections of flowers and plants – 150 different varieties.
The sea is part of French agriculture -- providing salt
And oysters.
We got to see those too.
There were a number of animals
Though only the ovines came with their own shepherd and sheepdog.
A kilometer later, near the Place de la Concorde, we could buy the fruits of the farmers’ labors to refresh us.
I came home,exhausted, with my first sunburn of the season. I’ll never think of the Champs (“champs” does mean “fields”) Elysées the same way again.
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