Free Grah Served Around Croatia to Mark May Day

Grah, or bean soup, will be served around the country on Tuesday (Photo: Hrvoje Jelavic/PIXSELL)

Croatians will celebrate May Day, or International Workers’ Day, today with a public holiday that will see thousands turn out for traditional free lunches around the country.

Over 70,000 portions of free bean soup (grah) and 60,000 bread rolls will be served at Maksimir Park in the capital Zagreb to celebrate Labour Day. Meals will be served from 10:00 am.

The free lunch is a tradition in Croatia, and there will also be bean soup served at many other locations around the country on Tuesday.

In Split, the largest city on the coast, locals will gather on Marjan hill for a free lunch. Organisers expect more than 2,500 portions of bean soup to be dished out.

Maksimir Park will be full today (Photo credit: Sandra Tralic)

Free grah will also be served in Rijeka, Pula, Split, Dubrovnik, Osijek, Novi Marof, Slavonski Brod, Zadar, Vir, and Ugljan. Around 5,000 portions will be served in Koprivnica and there will also be free grah served at Krka National Park.

Bean soup is given out to all people as a symbol of a real workers dish and red carnations as a symbol of the blood of fallen workers from the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago. The date, 1 May, has also been known for anti-capitalist protests around the world.