May Day is perhaps most closely associated by Britons with a three-day bank holiday weekend.

　　五一节或许与英国人关系最密切，有一个为期三天的公共假期。

　　But the traditions of the day have their roots in pagan festivals celebrating spring and fertility and the date has come to be linked to everything from maypole dancing to anti-capitalist protests.

　　但是实际上这一天的传统源自异教徒的节日，用来庆祝春天的到来和新生命孕育的开始，而且日期的确定与历史上反资本主义抗议有关。

　　The national holiday itself is a recent invention, with the Labour government only introducing it to the calendar in 1978.

　　国庆节的由来相对较晚，工党政府只是在1978年将其列入公历假期。

　　Three different celebrations in late April have merged to give 1 May its special significance.

　　4月下旬的三次不同的大型庆祝活动，集中在一起，就给予5月1日这一天特别的意义。

　　Gaelic May Day in Ireland and Scotland, known as Beltane, was held halfway between the spring equinox in the middle of March and the summer solstice in the middle of June.

　　爱尔兰和苏格兰的五月节，也被称为五朔节(西洋旧历五月一日)，一般在三月中旬的春分点和六月中旬的夏至点之间举行。

　　Marking the beginning of summer, Beltane was celebrated by villagers with bonfires and rituals to protect crops and cattle, along with a big feast.

　　标志着一年夏天的开始，村民用篝火和仪式进行庆祝，表达庄稼丰收和牲畜平安的愿望，同时也会举行盛宴。

　　In Germany, Finland and Sweden, meanwhile, Walpurgis Night celebrated that saint with a feast on 1 May that included dancing and young women being kissed - and was sometimes seen as a night when witches would await the arrival of spring.

　　与此同时，在德国，芬兰和瑞典，在5月1日前夜，也就是“瓦普几司”之夜，德国人就开始举行庆祝活动，身着盛装的人们跳起来欢快的舞蹈，未婚男女亲吻来表达爱意等活动，用这种方式来迎接五月的到来。

　　Another festival held by the Romans to celebrate Flora, the goddess of flowers, in late April also marked the arrival of summer.

　　罗马人为庆祝花卉女神弗洛拉，于4月底也会举办节日，同时用来迎接夏季的到来。

　　May Day is synonymous with the maypole, believed to be rooted in a pagan tradition of cutting down young trees and sticking them in the ground to mark the arrival of summer - and then dancing around them in rival performances between villages.

　　五月节与五朔节是同义词，五朔节被认为是起源于异教的传统，即砍伐幼树并将它们粘在地上以标志夏季的到来—然后村庄之间围绕着它们进行跳舞竞赛。

　　The day is also associated with Morris dancing, usually by groups of men wearing different coloured clothes depending on the part of the country they dance in.

　　这一天的活动也包括莫里斯舞(英国传统舞蹈)，舞蹈者通常是由穿着不同颜色衣服的男士组成，表演者穿着不同颜色的衣服以示区别于来自于不同的地区。

　　Well-dressing and making flower garlands can be part of the festivities, while a May Queen and sometimes a "Green Man" might also make an appearance as the embodiments of spring.

　　盛装和花环也成为活动庆祝的一部分，而五月“皇后”，有时候也可能是“绿色人”，这也成为了象征春意的一种表现形式。