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The Origins of Finnish University Student Hat Festival

In Finland, “May Day” is not only a holiday for workers, but also a festival for college students and a carnival for Finns to celebrate the arrival of spring. It is also known as the “Hat Wearing Festival” because of the ceremony of putting on the student hat for the “Haves Amanda Girl” statue next to the pier.

Ways of celebrating

On April 30, college students wearing white round caps and black-brimmed hats drank champagne at the South Dock Square in the center of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. That day is the annual festival of Finnish university students – the hat festival. University students in Helsinki gathered from all directions to the South Dock Square to hold a capping ceremony for the bronze statue of Harveys Amanda in the circular fountain in the center of the square. At the same time, the present college students put on white hats symbolizing college students, drank the prepared champagne, and congratulated them on their own festival.

Origin

In Helsinki, the capital of Finland, everyone knows about Harveys Amanda. She is a bronze statue of a nude girl standing in the circular fountain on the South Wharf Square in the city center. She faces the sea, rests her chin in one hand, and stares quietly at the Gulf of Finland. She is known as the “Goddess of the Sea”. It is said that Amanda was created in Paris by the famous Finnish sculptor Willey Walgren at the beginning of this century.

In 1877, at the age of 22, Valgren went to Paris for further studies and lived there for 36 years. The artist in a foreign country has a deep love for his motherland, and his artistic creation also reveals this deep nostalgia. In 1905, 50-year-old Valgren successfully sculpted the image of Amanda with a Finnish girl studying in Paris as a model. In 1907, this statue of a nude girl was exhibited in Paris.

The following year, Amanda appeared in the center of the Finnish capital. After the unveiling of the statue, many local women and conservatives objected to displaying the image of a naked girl in public, thinking it was offensive. However, Amanda’s dignified and comely, gentle and elegant demeanor and graceful and smooth lines vividly displayed the inner and outer beauty of an innocent girl, which won the appreciation of college students. Under their protection, the statue of Amanda has remained in South Pier Plaza. Now this bronze statue has become a symbol of Helsinki, regardless of spring, summer, autumn and winter, all tourists who visit here have to take photos with her.

However, the busiest day in front of the statue of Amanda is the University Hat Festival on April 30 every year. On this day, Oman reached the center of attention.

It is said that at the beginning of this century, on the eve of a “May 1st” festival, a group of college students had dinner at the Cavehorn Hotel near the statue of Amanda and carnivaled all night. While celebrating, they suddenly thought of Amanda standing alone in the cold night. The students immediately bought a tablecloth from the restaurant and put it on Amanda. With an idea, a young man took off the white round-topped black-brimmed hat that only college students are eligible to wear, and put it on Amanda’s head.

Since then, in the middle of the night on the eve of “May 1st” every year, there are always college students wearing a white hat for Amanda. Over time, it has become an annual fixed festival.

Since the mid-1970s, in order to maintain social order, under the suggestion of the Finnish police, the hat-wearing activity was changed to the afternoon of April 30 every year. At that time, tens of thousands of young people, almost all of whom are college students, gathered on the South Pier Square in the center of Helsinki. There are also teenagers in the crowd who are preparing to take college entrance exams in the near future. Some handsome old men are particularly eye-catching. It can be seen from the worn and yellowed college student hats they carry with them that they were once college students.

Related customs and activities

People of all ages don their school caps on the day of the festival. They also gathered in front of the bronze statue of the girl Harveys Amanda to clean up the statue. After the cleaning was completed, the statue was put on a white hat symbolizing college students. Many students drank beer and other alcoholic beverages on the day to show the meaning of celebration.