May Day celebrations and photos
May Day celebrations are a big thing in Finland and this year we had the best possible weathers as well so people were in good spirits. May Day turns the center of Helsinki into a two day carnival. If you want to see how Finns party, May Day is a good occasion for that. If you want to see how Finns drink, May Day is good for that as well. The only time that I spent the eve of May Day at the center of Helsinki was many years ago and the experience left a lasting impression so I've avoided going to the center of Helsinki on the night of the eve ever since. The streets were full of people who were drunk. Me and my friends had to run away from some guy who just wouldn't leave us alone and someone threw a "lihalörtsy" (grill food) at my friend's head, maybe on accident. Helsinki goes totally crazy on one day of the year and May Day's eve is that day.
I spent my May Day eve doing my Japanese exam and then celebrating with other students from our Institute at the park inside campus with some good food etc. Me and my friends skipped the washing and "crowning" the Manta-statue with the white student cap and I'm glad that we did as I read from the newspaper the next day that 50000 people had showed up to see that. o.o I don't like crowds. We (me, Jiji_vaan, h_a_k_u, subi and a handful of others) headed to Jiji's place to prepare some food for the picnic next day and to just hang around. I hadn't yet started my pollen allergy medication so I felt pretty awful and I also had a small flu going on, so I mainly just layed on the soft sofa and retired to home around 10PM. The pollen season started weeks earlier than usually and I had been so busy with exams that I had totally missed it. I usually start to eat my meds before my allergies hit me. I didn't even at first realise what was wrong with me as it was difficult to breathe etc. I had started to worry that I had some sort of heart condition or something until I realized that it was just my allergies. I'm fine as long as I take my allergy medication.
On the actual May Day we headed to have a picnic at Kaivopuisto with our student group. Kaivopuisto is a rather big park by the sea maybe 20-30 minutes walk away from the center of Helsinki. It's the traditional place to celebrate May Day and it's full of people at that time as you're about to see from the pictures that I took. There's some official program at the park around 9AM, but we went there around 1PM as I don't think that anyone would've been up to the early wake up after the partying of the previous night.
May Day picnics
Kids decorating each other
Yellow student overalls.
University students traditionally wear these sort of overalls on May Day (at least) and
the colors represent either their Institute or student union (osakunta).
Count the white student hats.
The white hats are traditionally worn on May Day and the eve of May Day.
Practically every Finn who's ever graduated High School has one, but not everyone wears their's on May Day.
It hasn't been a custom in my family so I don't wear mine on May Days (or ever).
I think that the white building on the right is the US embassy, but I'm not sure.
More people towards the hill
Trees joined in on the festivities
Pig balloon
I went for a walk around the park to take some more photos and most of the rest are from the hill at the center of the park.
There were some long lines to the toilets. I heard that it took 30-40 minutes to stand in line. :p
The observatory at the highest point at the Kaivopuisto park
I like the colors and shapes of this photo.
Kaivopuisto park is by the sea.
I like to go here to watch the sailing boats at sea during the Summer.
Lotsa red overalls (and white student caps)
You can see the church-lighthouse of the Finnish Castle on the horizon.
You get an idea how many people were crammed into the park from this photo.
It's a tradition to go and have a picnic on May Day at Kaivopuisto.
It may not look like it but the weather really was great, considering that I remember many May Days when it's actually snowed. :p
The tents that you can see aren't there to sell stuff. People bring them in case there's rain, I think.
Bottle lines
These are the cliffs of the hill where the observary is.
Balloons
Fire truck and a guy taking a picture of it. You gotta love his colorful cap. :p
There were these big dumpsters around the park where people could throw their garbage in, but some idiot had thrown some hot barbeque coals into the one closest to us and it had started to burn.
I went to tell the firemen near by with a friend on mine, but someone had already called 112 (the 911 in Finland) and the firetruck was already there when we got back.
The fireman doesn't look as exited as the little girl.
Apparently it was the second time that day that there was a fire inside there.
Our picnic lasted maybe for four hours with people coming and going. After that I headed to the Market square with some freshmen to see the May Day market.
Keisarinnankivi -statue and balloons. The statue was erected in 1835 on the spot where Nicholas I (emperor of Russia's) and his wife landed on Helsinki.
It's the oldest public monument in Helsinki. You can see the two-headed eagle of Russia on the top. Finland was part of Russia at the time.
/history lesson
Old fire truck
Inside of the old fire truck
Where do the balloons go after May Day is over? Balloon graveyard?
Junk on sale
I headed home from there and I got home around 6-7PM and our roleplaying gang was at our place cooking stuff. I was still feeling fatigued from my allergies and the flu so I took a couple hours long nap and after that we ate pizza, waffles and blueberry pie and chatted. I was really stuffed after all the eating done on that day.
I spent my May Day eve doing my Japanese exam and then celebrating with other students from our Institute at the park inside campus with some good food etc. Me and my friends skipped the washing and "crowning" the Manta-statue with the white student cap and I'm glad that we did as I read from the newspaper the next day that 50000 people had showed up to see that. o.o I don't like crowds. We (me, Jiji_vaan, h_a_k_u, subi and a handful of others) headed to Jiji's place to prepare some food for the picnic next day and to just hang around. I hadn't yet started my pollen allergy medication so I felt pretty awful and I also had a small flu going on, so I mainly just layed on the soft sofa and retired to home around 10PM. The pollen season started weeks earlier than usually and I had been so busy with exams that I had totally missed it. I usually start to eat my meds before my allergies hit me. I didn't even at first realise what was wrong with me as it was difficult to breathe etc. I had started to worry that I had some sort of heart condition or something until I realized that it was just my allergies. I'm fine as long as I take my allergy medication.
On the actual May Day we headed to have a picnic at Kaivopuisto with our student group. Kaivopuisto is a rather big park by the sea maybe 20-30 minutes walk away from the center of Helsinki. It's the traditional place to celebrate May Day and it's full of people at that time as you're about to see from the pictures that I took. There's some official program at the park around 9AM, but we went there around 1PM as I don't think that anyone would've been up to the early wake up after the partying of the previous night.
May Day picnics
Kids decorating each other
Yellow student overalls.
University students traditionally wear these sort of overalls on May Day (at least) and
the colors represent either their Institute or student union (osakunta).
Count the white student hats.
The white hats are traditionally worn on May Day and the eve of May Day.
Practically every Finn who's ever graduated High School has one, but not everyone wears their's on May Day.
It hasn't been a custom in my family so I don't wear mine on May Days (or ever).
I think that the white building on the right is the US embassy, but I'm not sure.
More people towards the hill
Trees joined in on the festivities
Pig balloon
I went for a walk around the park to take some more photos and most of the rest are from the hill at the center of the park.
There were some long lines to the toilets. I heard that it took 30-40 minutes to stand in line. :p
The observatory at the highest point at the Kaivopuisto park
I like the colors and shapes of this photo.
Kaivopuisto park is by the sea.
I like to go here to watch the sailing boats at sea during the Summer.
Lotsa red overalls (and white student caps)
You can see the church-lighthouse of the Finnish Castle on the horizon.
You get an idea how many people were crammed into the park from this photo.
It's a tradition to go and have a picnic on May Day at Kaivopuisto.
It may not look like it but the weather really was great, considering that I remember many May Days when it's actually snowed. :p
The tents that you can see aren't there to sell stuff. People bring them in case there's rain, I think.
Bottle lines
These are the cliffs of the hill where the observary is.
Balloons
Fire truck and a guy taking a picture of it. You gotta love his colorful cap. :p
There were these big dumpsters around the park where people could throw their garbage in, but some idiot had thrown some hot barbeque coals into the one closest to us and it had started to burn.
I went to tell the firemen near by with a friend on mine, but someone had already called 112 (the 911 in Finland) and the firetruck was already there when we got back.
The fireman doesn't look as exited as the little girl.
Apparently it was the second time that day that there was a fire inside there.
Our picnic lasted maybe for four hours with people coming and going. After that I headed to the Market square with some freshmen to see the May Day market.
Keisarinnankivi -statue and balloons. The statue was erected in 1835 on the spot where Nicholas I (emperor of Russia's) and his wife landed on Helsinki.
It's the oldest public monument in Helsinki. You can see the two-headed eagle of Russia on the top. Finland was part of Russia at the time.
/history lesson
Old fire truck
Inside of the old fire truck
Where do the balloons go after May Day is over? Balloon graveyard?
Junk on sale
I headed home from there and I got home around 6-7PM and our roleplaying gang was at our place cooking stuff. I was still feeling fatigued from my allergies and the flu so I took a couple hours long nap and after that we ate pizza, waffles and blueberry pie and chatted. I was really stuffed after all the eating done on that day.