May Day, 2020

May Day is International Workers' Day, and marchers have made adjustments to accommodate coronavirus restrictions:

Masked, but not much distancing

The two largest protests in San Francisco and Oakland didn’t involve crowds gathering in front of buildings or marching side-by-side through city streets while chanting and waving colorful signs. Demonstrators instead climbed into cars and trucks, or mounted bikes and other vehicles and formed caravans to parade their way through cities and sometimes surround places like government buildings or businesses.

I prefer how May Day is honored in my home state.

May Day is lei day in Hawaii
Flowers and garlands everywhere…

(Photo from Hawaii.com)

Leis can be simple or elaborate, multi- or mono-colored, expensive or free as the flowers from one’s own back yard. They are given at birthdays, airports, weddings, graduations, banquets, holidays, or sometimes just because. They are given freely without expectation of reciprocation, often to people that one has never met before.

There’s supposed to be no lasting commitment—the flowers fade quickly even in a fridge; the receipt of a lei therefore usually “means” little. But sometimes we remember the occasions forever.

A lei is granted with a kiss. Many young boys, grimacing, receive their first kiss from a non-family member when receiving a lei. Later, for the cost of a few flowers it’s a good pretext for a young adolescent male to peck the cheek of a girl he’s long admired (if your mother made the lei, don’t tell the girls, they feel funny when you say that).

On May Day, 2020, there won't be a lot of kissing or giving of leis. Let's hope that on May Day, 2021, we can go back to the way things were. © 2020 Stephen Yuen