This Labor Day weekend, two very different traditions offer a reminder of something they share: communities decide what is worth remembering—and then find ways to carry those traditions forward.
On the morning of September 5, 1882, people began gathering along the streets of lower Manhattan for something the country had never seen before: a parade honoring American workers.
There was just one problem.
The parade had no band.
The grand marshal was ready. Police were stationed along the route. Spectators had gathered. But relatively few marchers had appeared, there was no music, and people were beginning to suggest that perhaps the whole thing should simply be called off. Then help arrived from New Jersey!
Two hundred members of the Jewelers Union crossed the ferry from Newark, and they brought a band.
The music started, the jewelers began marching down Broadway, and spectators started joining the procession. By the end of the day, estimates put the number of marchers somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000, with thousands more workers and their families gathering afterward for a giant picnic and celebration.
America’s first Labor Day had very nearly not happened. It would take another twelve years before Labor Day became a national holiday. But here’s a piece of the story we particularly like in Colorado...
Colorado was there early.
Oregon became the first state to officially recognize Labor Day in February 1887. Before the year was over, only four more states had followed. Colorado was one of them. Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York joined Colorado that year. By 1894, the idea had spread across the country, and Congress established the first Monday in September as a national Labor Day holiday.
Today, most of us probably don’t think about any of this.
Labor Day has become the unofficial end of summer... a three-day weekend filled with picnics, travel, festivals and one last opportunity to enjoy a Colorado summer.
But the history behind it raises an interesting question:
What does a community decide is important enough to celebrate?
And what happens when we look at that question beyond the United States?
Around the world, the calendar tells a story.
The United States celebrates workers on the first Monday of September, but much of the world recognizes labor on May 1, often called International Workers’ Day or May Day.
Different countries have different histories, traditions and ways of observing the people, events and ideas that have shaped their communities.
And that is one of the things we find so fascinating about international relationships.
A holiday can tell us what people remember. A festival can tell us what one generation wants the next generation to know. Sometimes those traditions remain in the places where they began. And sometimes people carry them thousands of miles and give them a new home. That brings us back to Colorado this Labor Day.
A celebration called Ashenda
On Monday, members of Colorado’s Tigrayan community will gather to celebrate Ashenda (ኣሸንዳ), an annual celebration of women and girls with deep roots in Tigray, in northern Ethiopia.
Ashenda is colorful and joyful.
Women and girls dress in beautiful traditional clothing, often with intricate embroidery. Hair is carefully braided. There is music, dancing, food and celebration. And during Ashenda, the spotlight belongs to the girls and women.
The tradition is passed from generation to generation—from mothers to daughters, older sisters to younger sisters, and aunties to nieces. But perhaps one of the most remarkable things about traditions like Ashenda is what happens when people move. The tradition moves with them. The songs, the dance, the clothing, the stories all travel.
And children growing up thousands of miles from the places their parents or grandparents once called home are given an opportunity to understand where they came from. For families celebrating far from Tigray, Ashenda becomes more than a festival. It becomes a connection to home.
And you are invited!
One of the wonderful things about living in Denver is that experiencing another culture doesn’t always require getting on an airplane.
Sometimes our neighbors simply invite us in.
This Monday, they are doing exactly that.
🌸 Ashenda 2026
Monday, September 7 — Labor Day4:00–8:00 p.m. City of Axum Park3200 N. Birch St., Denver, Colorado
Admission is free.
Traditional food will be available for purchase, and families are welcome.
You do not need to be Tigrayan to attend.
You don’t need to know anything about Ashenda before you arrive.
Come curious.
Listen to the music. Watch the dancing. Experience the beautiful traditional clothing. Try the food. Meet members of Colorado’s Tigrayan community. Ask someone about the celebration.
And learn a little more about Axum—Denver’s Sister City since 1995.
That is citizen diplomacy in perhaps its simplest form.
🌸 We still need one volunteer!
If you’d like to do a little more than attend, the Denver–Axum Sister Cities Committee still needs one volunteer to help us during Ashenda.
You’ll be helping with food service and lending a hand alongside members of the community. You don’t need previous experience with Ashenda or Denver Sister Cities International.
Just come ready to help. If you’re interested, email us at:
axum@denversistercities.org
Tell us you’d like to volunteer at Ashenda, and we’ll get you connected.
What we carry with us
At first glance, America’s Labor Day and Ashenda may seem to have very little to do with one another. Historically and culturally, they are very different celebrations. But encountering them on the same weekend gives us an opportunity to notice something.
Communities remember.
Labor Day asks Americans to remember generations of workers and their contributions to the country.
Ashenda allows another generation to experience a tradition that families have carried forward across centuries and, today, across continents.
One story takes us to a group of workers standing on Broadway in 1882, waiting for a band.
Another takes us across the world to Tigray and then all the way back to a park in Denver named for our Sister City of Axum.
And this Labor Day, both stories have a place in Colorado. That’s one of the quiet joys of living in an international city. You don’t necessarily have to travel around the world to encounter the world.
Sometimes you simply have to show up when your neighbors invite you in.
And speaking of showing up for our neighbors…
We have another opportunity coming up to do exactly that.
On Monday, September 21, Denver Sister Cities International will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Denver’s Sister City relationship with Kunming, China.
Forty years is a remarkable milestone.
Since 1986, people in Denver and Kunming have built connections across thousands of miles through education, cultural exchange, official visits, friendships and citizen diplomacy.
This year, that relationship is coming to Denver.
We will be welcoming an official delegation from Kunming to our city to celebrate the anniversary with us.
And once again, we’d love for our neighbors to show up.
If you’ve never attended a Sister Cities event before, this is a wonderful opportunity to start. You don’t have to know anyone. You don’t have to have traveled to China. You don’t have to be a diplomat or an expert in international affairs.
You just need to be curious.
Come meet our visitors from Kunming. Meet people from Denver’s international, diplomatic, nonprofit and civic communities. Share a meal. Ask someone about their city. Make an introduction. Start a conversation.
This weekend, our neighbors invite us to experience Ashenda and learn about a tradition carried across generations and continents.
On September 21, we’ll have the opportunity to return that hospitality by welcoming neighbors who have traveled across the world to visit Denver.
Let’s show up for them, too.
🇨🇳 Celebrating 40 Years of Denver & Kunming
Monday, September 21, 2026
Join Denver Sister Cities International and our guests from Kunming as we celebrate four decades of friendship between our two cities.
Ticket sales close September 8.
We hope you’ll join us at the table.https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/denver-kunming-40th-anniversary-dinner-and-celebration
Because citizen diplomacy doesn’t always begin in a conference room or with an official delegation. Sometimes it begins over a meal. Sometimes with music in a neighborhood park. Sometimes it's by learning why your neighbor celebrates a holiday you’ve never heard of. And sometimes it begins by asking a very simple question: Tell me the story behind this.
This Labor Day weekend, we hope you’ll do just that.
Sources & Further Reading
The U.S. Department of Labor documents the first Labor Day celebration on September 5, 1882, Colorado’s early adoption of the holiday in 1887, and the establishment of the federal holiday in 1894.
Denver Sister Cities International’s Denver–Axum Committee has more information about Ashenda, the Denver–Axum relationship and this year’s celebration.
Be Part of Denver’s International Community
There are many ways to get involved—attend an event, volunteer, join a City Committee, become a member, or simply come meet your neighbors.
Questions or want to get involved?
Contact Denver Sister Cities International
For Ashenda volunteering: axum@denversistercities.org
*Image information – This is a story in itself. The image above is a contemporary wood engraving of the first U.S. Labor Day parade, showing the procession passing the reviewing stand at Union Square in New York City on September 5, 1882. It appeared in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper on September 16, 1882. The Library of Congress has the image.
