First of May

First of May, in finnish called “Vappu” is an international worker’s day celebrated on 30.4 and 1.5. Vappu is also called  “Walpuris Night” In english. Vappu is a day off in many countries. In Finland secondary school gradutates take their Student Caps and people go to a square, where sellers sell all kinds of stuff and snacks. On Vappu we eat funnel cakes, in Finnish “tippaleipiä” and we drink mead, in Finnish “simaa”.

There is sima with alcohol and non-alcoholic sima. People usually drink a lot of champagne and other alcoholic drinks. On the streets and on the square some sellers sell balloons, that usually present some cartoon characters or animals. Some places in Finland have cappings of statues. Most known capping is capping of

the Havis Amanda (Mantan lakitus), which is a female statue in Helsinki. On Vappu it’s general to go to picnic, usually in a park in Kaisaniemi or Kaivopuisto (in case of Helsinki).                                                                 

 Bunch of balloons

            

                                                                                     

Funnel cake and mead                                         Havis Amanda (Mantan lakitus)

SOURCES:

Basso.fi

iltalehti.fi

stadissa.fi