The day of the workers that is also the day of the whole family

In Cuba, May 1st has long ceased to be an exclusive date for the island’s working masses. Every generation born after that luminous January can attest to that.

The truth is that, beyond the union calls, the overflowing initiatives in each work center, the powerful popular movement generated by the date also enters Cuban homes, and while some are preparing to attend the parade, those who will not, also feel like participants.

A slight visual review of the patriotic mass that floods the streets is enough to discover in the crowd entire families, people of all age groups, who may not contribute now to the production, services, culture…, but they know they are protagonists of something bigger and more beautiful: the work of the Revolution.

Our valuable professionals of the lens will not let us lie if I say that, not infrequently, the most beautiful picture of a parade is the one in which a father carries his daughter on his shoulders, or a grandfather and his grandson show together an image of Fidel, or a proud mother turns her son’s costume into the peculiar initiative of a union bloc.

That first day of the fifth month of the year is an incomparable pretext to share as a family, to join efforts, to honor the examples of the humble and hardworking people to whose family tree we are proud to belong. That makes ours an exceptional May 1st, always emotional, full of feelings that arise from the commitment and love for Cuba and with the forks of our blood heritage.

It is comforting to know that the so-called workers’ holiday (because in this country it is a date of joys and hopes), is also in equal measure of past, present and future generations. Each one of them is essential in the construction of socialism, in the creation of collective wealth, in the drive with which we face the obstacles and tear down the barriers that stand in the way of our chosen path.

In a few hours we will live again that unforgettable and unique moment. Thousands of children in Cuba will be the first to wake up, thousands of grandparents will serve as an early rearguard, the poster that the young man who has recently joined the labor force will carry will be the result of a collective construction at home…

Nothing is casual, the Cuban is a family that works, undertakes, creates and celebrates its May 1st, because it knows that serving as a support to its own is also a way to serve the Homeland.