Vappu 2008

The first of May is greatly celebrated in Finland. The International Workers Day is also celebrated in Finland, but in here...well, how can I say...they arrange the celebration in a very particular way. I will describe in brief: at first, the 30th of April, we had a celebration at the department. Tuuli and Kirsti prepared traditional ring-shaped cakes together with a non-alcoholic drink typical for vappu. According to the tradition, this day, every year, the staff's children are invited to join the party, and they play, somehow, the main role in the celebration. I have to admit that it was very nice. (As my girlfriend knows ;-) I like children and Finnish ones are particularly beautiful, funny and endearing. Velimatti kindly prepared a harmless and funny experiment so that all the children got baptized by science. The department was decorated with balloons and even the retired professors (their busts) were dressed up for the occasion.

After that, we moved to the city center. For some reason, the celebration of the First of May is also related to students. Everyone is wearing a white hat which is given to Finns when they finish at high-school. I think that they also recieve this hat (or something similar) when they complete some other types of University or technical degrees. Anyhow, everyone is wearing those hats. It is a tradition to put a similar hat to a statue of a woman in the city center. It is currently made by a crane (drunk finnish guys would destroy the statue straight away). This event is followed by several hundreds of people. But...did I say drunk? Yes! Have you ever heard of Finnish parties without alcohol? Not in this world. So everybody (also ourselves, naturally) enjoyed several beers while watching the statue being crowned. But this celebration in Finland has some other aspects that should be analysed in detail. For some reason, people tend to get dressed with strange clothes (like disguises), as if they were in a carnival (??!!!). Take a look to the photographs and decide yourselves: a couple a strange youngsters approach me and tried to abuse me as you can see below. The ballons also play a relevant role, but I haven´t found out which exactely yet .

That night, we went to a salsa party. Finns (still with the hats on) enjoyed watching some cubans girls shaking their asses. So did I.

The First of May, most Helsinki citizens go to Kaivopuisto and enjoy a picnic with friends, family...and we did the same. It is, definitely, a peculiar and funny way to celebrate the First of May.

Oh yes! What happens with the typical First of May Workers Great Demostration? What happens with worker's claims and demands? In here, it simply does not exist as such. People is very happy with their working conditions...or otherwise, they prefer to celebrate the Workers Day, forgetting about their works, jobs, problems and other disgusting stuff, by fulfilling the "carpe diem" saying. It is just, another way.