Vappu (Part 1) April 30th

This weekend is special here in Finland as the country celebrates May Day (Vappu). Traditional ways to celebrate include special foods and drink including Sima (fermented lemonade), donuts, sausage, and potatoes. Yesterday I had the opportunity to travel with one of my colleagues, Risto Juvonen, to visit his hometown and share a lunch with him and his mother. Risto is from Iisalmi. IIsalmi is approximately 90 km north of Kuopio. The drive there was snowy. We visited a small park commemorating the Battle of the Virta Bridge which was fought in 1808 between Sweden and Russia. We were able to return to Kuopio in time for the UEF students to celebrate Vappu. The main event was held in the town square where there was a festival feel to the event. One of the first things you’ll notice is that the UEF students are wearing their boilersuits or student overalls. Students sew patches to their boilersuit as memorabilia. These patches are received at student events or exchanged with other students. The color of the boilersuit and the university’s or student union’s logo indicate the student program (e.g., pharmacy, business, medicine, etc) and university.

Next there were a series of speeches given by leaders of each of the student organizations. This was followed by a traditional washing of the boy statue in the town square. Using the cherry picker and requiring the students to wear safety harnesses felt like a very Finnish thing to do (safety first!).

This was followed by two students applying a traditional white cap on the statue. Then most everyone in attendance donned their white caps.

The white hat signifies that the wearer has a high school diploma. In most years this is then followed by a UEF professor swimming in the pool. This individual is chosen by the students and this is considered a high honor to be chosen. Unfortunately COVID prevented this final tradition from occurring. That may be just as well since it was relatively cold out (38F).