Labour and Solidarity Day
1 May 2026 — Happy holiday to everyone who works! The tea is hot, and the simit freshly baked!
Labour and Solidarity Day is observed in Turkey every year on 1 May. The date is tied to International Workers' Day, which traces back to the late nineteenth-century struggles of workers for an eight-hour working day. In Turkey, 1 May was a public holiday as early as 1935 as the Spring Festival, but it was abolished after 1980. In 2009 it was restored as an official public holiday under the name Labour and Solidarity Day. Today it is a day for rest, family outings and time with friends, and in many cities trade unions hold rallies and marches dedicated to workers' rights. As on any day in Turkey, the streets smell of freshly baked simit (a ring-shaped bread covered with sesame seeds), and tea is served in slim glasses, a symbol of Turkish hospitality. The holiday has nothing to do with the lunar calendar: its date is fixed by the solar calendar and falls in the middle of spring, when the days are noticeably longer and brighter. Work, spring and long daylight meet on one day.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver star figure made of luminous dots and fine lines, like a constellation drifting across the sky: a craftsman in a straw hat carrying a basket with a tea glass and a ring-shaped simit, waving a hand
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