May 1, 2020 – Labor Day, better known among Croats as Prvi Maj, is the main reason you’ll organize a barbecue with friends or family. Will it be the same in the time of the coronavirus?
Members of the Civil Protection Headquarters have approved barbecues, but physical distance should be respected. “Within a family, it is normal to socialize. However, more people cannot gather because the provision of five people is still valid to the maximum,” Capak said for RTL Television.
A small poll conducted on Facebook with the question “How will you spend Labor Day this year?” collected 175 answers (6 of them were empty). 169 is not a large number but leaves enough room to think.
Out of 169 people, 16 people won’t respect physical distance. Some of them will be in a group of two, five, six, or ten people. They commented they hadn’t seen their friends in a while due to the coronavirus, so Prvi maj is the perfect chance to spend time with them. For some of them, a barbecue is a must-have; for others, this is a day like every other in quarantine, so why not enjoy it with friends.
Out of the remaining 153 people, eight will go to work. Some of them because they have to, one of them because, “I love my job, so I don’t see any reason not to enjoy it.”
One man who filled out the poll wrote that he works with people with special needs. On Thursday, a day before Prvi maj, he was working a night shift. He wrote: “They hear, know, feel that something is not okay. This affects their life, but they don’t understand why. It’s like a riddle for them – why should they be in some “punishment”, that is, quarantine? One more thing would bother them: if they got pocket money, why aren’t they allowed to go to the store and buy themselves a bag of chips? I struggle to explain everything to them in a way they will understand, but I don’t know how to do that.
Maybe this isn’t an answer you needed, but this is mine for Prvi maj.”
Finally, 145 people will respect the social distance and other precautions. Although the coronavirus wasn’t mentioned in the question, a lot of people wrote they will be at home with their family, because the virus is still here. A few of them even wrote #stayhome. A lot of people see this day as a chance to gather the family around the table with a delicious meal – although some of them will be riding bikes with their family because that makes more sense for them than a barbecue.
All in all, 153 people out of 169 will be responsible and won’t endanger others. For the rest of them who will be enjoying the day with their friends, we hope they can avoid the coronavirus. In some parts of Croatia, it’s currently raining. Maybe this will make people stay at home?
To read more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.
