Holidays and Celebrations: Labor Day -- A Mix of Labor, Riots, BBQs, and Parades!

By Denise Miller Holmes, The Witty Wise Woman

Why do we celebrate with BBQs, parades, and flag waiving?

I Thought We Were Supposed To Be Laboring!

I am not the only one who finds irony in the holiday name “Labor Day.” But it makes sense when you go back to the late 1800s and see what workers were experiencing all over the world as a result of a vigorous and growing Industrial Revolution.

In those days, workers were exploited, and their suffering was becoming more and more exposed. Working conditions were deplorable in the mills, factories, and mines.

As the complaints about working conditions and unreasonable demands of management grew, more and more companies began to organize Labor Day celebrations.

These celebrations typically included a day off for the workers, a parade or some sort of entertainment, and food. I hear from my time-travel friends that these celebrations were really fun!

Anyway, all this seems to me to be a bribe to the American worker that screams, “Please don’t unionize.” And that may very well be what they are. It was around that time that the workers decided to stop only complaining and to form workers’ unions. Thus, the Labor Movement took off big.

On June 28, 1894, Congress, spurred on by President Grover Cleveland, made the first Monday in September the official day for Labor Day, making it a Federal Holiday. I hear they celebrated with a glass of iced tea and other summer drinks which we imbibe when it’s hotter than Hades—the usual temperature on Labor Day.

They say Monday was chosen because that gave workers a three-day weekend.

The day they solidified the holiday, it is said that it was the first time the elites of this country threw a crumb to the unwashed, but working, masses. But, this Congressional gift came after the Pullman strike and something called “the Haymarket Riot,” which put pressure on society to do something. There were many riots and demonstrations that started soon after the Civil War ended. So…there’s that.

The squeaky wheel gets that dang grease, you know.

So, while you’re enjoying your BBQ and sipping your tea and lemonade, please remember the work that went into producing all the products that make your leisure possible. And, if you are a laborer, relish your three-day weekend.

Perhaps you’ll sneak in a celebratory nap?

Happy Labor Day!!!!!