Vappu

Vappu (vah-poh) is a Finnish celebration that officially begins on April 30th and ends on May 1st, and is a combination of May Day and Labor Day (Groth. 2012: 23). Vappu is a giant festival in Finland, celebrating the end of winter and the final semester of university. Also known as Walpurgis Night, people wear their captain-looking white hats they received upon graduation from secondary school (Milne et. al. 2012: 1). Students also wear student overalls in their university’s color and decorate them with patches¹.

Although it didn’t start out that way, Vappu is known for its consumption of alcohol and massive celebratory picnics¹. Some specific food and drink include: Sima, an alcoholic drink, Tippaleipä, which is Finnish for funnel cake, and Munkki, which is a Finnish doughnut. However, it is also known for its parades and the tradition of placing a student cap on important statues, a practice known as “crowning” the statue (Groth. 2012: 27).

Little is known about the origins of Vappu, however, it has become increasingly politicized due to the Government. In “The Ritual of May Day in Western Europe: Past, Present, and Future,” by Abby Peterson and Herbert Reiter, they recount the history of Vappu’s politicization. In 1891, the Second International declared that May Day had to be celebrated on May 1st and not any other date. However, printers in Finland in 1983 organized their annual Vappu picnic walk for May 14th. These picnic walks are how the labor celebration and the beginning of spring celebrations started to merge, as Vappu originally was meant to celebrate the latter².