The Meaning of Holidays in Everyday Life
The term holiday often means a day off from work, a chance to rest, or a planned break in the usual routine. People look at the calendar and see clusters of free days—New Year, and the May holidays that have just passed. In business conversations, the phrase “let’s do it after the holidays” pops up when the year turns, typically between December 31 and January 1. In practice, many consider the window from December 24 to January 15 as a long pause. And it seems the common three working days between the May holidays aren’t always treated as ordinary workdays either.
Traditionally, holidays bring small rituals: preparing a salad, running to the store for new bottles, taking a walk with the whole family, and calling distant relatives to offer well wishes and celebrate together.
Yet a closer look raises a question: are these truly empty days, spaces waiting to be filled? In many cases, holidays become a period of rapid, sometimes exhausting activity rather than a simple pause from routine.
First comes the preparation. People handle all non-urgent business tasks so that nothing gets postponed into the holidays. Some try to resolve issues on the first days of January, and not just on May 2. Planning and impulsive purchases go hand in hand: a carefully curated shopping list guides trips to the store, yet promotions lure people to add items they might not otherwise need, from sausages to treats for the kids. A cake, for example, often becomes a focal point of gatherings.
Second, guests are expected, and someone will likely arrive bearing a dish or a small gift. If adults are invited to visit, it is common to bring something along. Children may already have tasted the cake before the day ends.
Third, holidays place a burden on physical wellbeing. Some people use weekends for health retreats, yet the social environment—whether familiar faces or new ones—tends to push energy toward late evenings and festive activities. A sense that vacation must be perfectly relaxing is not always fulfilled. In reality, many would argue that a holiday can and should include rest and restoration when possible.
Several holidays accumulate into a year’s rhythm that can feel relentless. Bodies sometimes run at maximum capacity, and it is difficult to discern whether the weekdays or the holidays demand more energy.
During the May holidays, a distinctive feature emerges: physical labor. It is a time when families mobilize to repair, plant, and tidy the home and yard. The sight of seedlings loaded onto carts, sharpened shovels, and rakes ready to sweep away last year’s debris becomes a common scene. May is portrayed as a day that nourishes the year—an imperative sense that delay could lead to consequences. Yet the tension is clear: some adults insist that certain tasks must be done, even if the younger generation questions why planting now matters. The drive to work the land reflects a powerful, almost inherited, impulse to shape the world.
As the family participates in yard work, questions arise about the true nature of weekends and the etymology of the word holiday. If office tasks begin to feel like a vacation in comparison, the May holidays in the countryside often appear as a grand, collective effort to create something meaningful. The activity can be soul-saving: after a night of socializing on May Day, the next morning brings a renewed urgency to address idleness by planting, digging, cleaning, and laying foundations for future well-being. It is not merely leisure; it is intentional, if tiring, work that aims to yield tangible results later in the year.
May 1 represents workers’ solidarity. Even those who do not see themselves as workers may join in—whether tending beds, sharing a barbecue, or simply contributing energy to household tasks. For a city dweller, planning a barbecue can feel like labor as well.
In the end, these periods are not simple holidays but extended work periods that contrast with ordinary weekdays. As past May holidays pass, those who labored hard continue with their efforts. The rhythm of life carries on.
Note: The perspective presented reflects one viewpoint and may differ from others involved in the discussion.