a swedish finn walpurgis and mayday

[cimorene]

last night was vappen, which is short for valborgs mässoafton, a holiday known as walpurgis in german and possibly some other languages. it's a kind of special finnish holiday, though, which doesn't exist in any of the other nordic lands quite the same way. the most special feature of the carnival are the graduation hats, basically all identical, which everyone to ever graduate high school in finland has. they are made mostly of white velvet and look a bit like sailors' caps, and for mayday and vappen, everyone who has ever earned one is supposed to wear it out. they have these hats in sweden too, but they don't have the ceremony.

throughout finland, although principally in turku/åbo and helsinki, all the finns gather in one place and all the swedish finns in another place (the swedish finns only have their own celebrations in the places where the concentration is especially high--there are only a couple hundred thousand swedish finns in the entire country). they stand around with champagne and other alcohol at the ready. a male choir sings, several people give speeches, including most notably the president of the student union, and at a set time the guy at the microphone says, "students, spring is here. put on your hats," and everyone does, all at once. then they pop the champagne, the choir sings and the speeches keep going on for a while, and the whole thing is televised. later people split off for their own private parties, in which various kinds of junkfood and lots of alcohol are the important ingredients. when wax and i left the watchtower hill last night, it was still thickly thronged with thousands of finnish swedes of all ages, from babies in strollers and children running around to little old people with white hair.

when we came back today for the traditional mayday picnic it was almost like we'd barely left--still incredibly crowded, though definitely notably less crowded. this is good because it means i was able to get some pictures of the sea of white hats. i was really sad that i forgot my camera last night.



wax, her brother mece, mece's wife tina
   
   
     
picnickers hanging out against the outer wall of the maritime museum at the peak of the watchtower hill (the highest point of land in the city, where the watchfire used to be lit back in the day)
   
   
     
tina, her sister tove, tove's boyfriend kim, mece & tina's daughter carmela, mece's buddy tomas
   
   
     
more crowds of swedish finns in their white hats
   
   
     
looking down from the top of the watchtower hill
   
   
     
looking down from the top of the watchtower hill
   
   
     
looking down from the top of the watchtower hill
   
   
     
looking down from the top of the watchtower hill
   
   
     
some nearby picnickers with their little dogs
   
   
     
about half the people you see walking about today, no matter where you are in town, are still wearing their little white hats.
   
   
     
wax ser ganska tuff ut.

Comments

[perhael.livejournal.com]

Awww, those Swedes and Finns are so cute with their little white hats ♥

Wax is way cooler than any of them, of course, and doesn't need a little white hat to look cute (don't tell her I said that, I have this feeling she would object to being called 'cute' *g*).

[cimness.livejournal.com]

well, after all this time the swedish finns are still finns. none of them consider themselves swedes. in fact, they were pretty much the originators of the finnish national movement in the 19th century. as for wax, she can read my journal so if you want to keep secrets from her you should screen your comments. ;)

[northern]

Aww, Wax ser finsk och tuff ut :)

[cimness.livejournal.com]

hon gör det verkligen, eller hur? :) det måste finnas någon finn någonstans i familjen även om de inte vet det, eller kanske man bara blir finsk. om några år ska jag ser finsk ut också.