MAY DAY GOOGLE DOODLE: Google constructs logo to mark International Workers' Day

May 1 is officially marked by dozens of countries as a national holiday, and is unofficially celebrated by scores more. But it’s not a public holiday in the United States, which explains Google’s decision not to run the Doodle in the U.S. of A.

Over the centuries, May Day has meant everything from a seasonal feast and a summer’s-a-comin’ festival (sometimes with frisky rites of fertility), to parades flaunting a more military prowess — to a religious day to honor St. Joseph the Worker.

International Workers’ Day, though, has its roots in violence, labor strikes — and the push for an eight-hour workday.

And today, more than a century after fatal demonstrations in Chicago sparked the holiday, the Occupy Movement hopes to stage strikes in cities around the globe.