Early May Bank Holiday 2016

Introduced in 1978
The Early May bank holiday is the youngest of the recurring UK bank holidays, created in 1978 under the Labour government of James Callaghan. It is the last recurring bank holiday to have been added anywhere in the UK. New Year's Day had reached England, Wales and Northern Ireland only four years earlier, in 1974.

May Day behind it
The date deliberately picks up May Day, which carries two quite separate traditions: the pre-Christian spring festival of Beltane, and International Workers' Day, called for by the Second International in 1889 and first marked across Europe in 1890. The choice of the first Monday rather than 1 May itself keeps the holiday attached to a weekend.

Repeatedly under threat
Successive governments have proposed abolishing it or moving it to October as a 'UK Day' or a Trafalgar Day, on the argument that the spring already has enough holidays and the autumn none. None of the proposals has been carried through.

Moved twice
The holiday has been moved twice, both times for VE Day. In 1995 it went from Monday 1 May to Monday 8 May for the fiftieth anniversary, and in 2020 from Monday 4 May to Friday 8 May for the seventy-fifth. It did not move in 2023: the coronation Monday on 8 May was an additional holiday, and the Early May bank holiday stayed where it was, on 1 May.

Customs
Maypole dancing, Morris sides and May queens survive in many villages, and the 'Obby 'Oss festival at Padstow and the Jack in the Green at Hastings draw large crowds. As a Monday it never needs a substitute day.

UK bank holidays 2016