Home » Events » Spring “Vappu” Festival – Finnish Kaleva Hall

Spring “Vappu” Festival – Finnish Kaleva Hall

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Date/Time
Date(s) - 04/29/2017
3:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Location
Finnish Hall, Berkeley

Category(ies)

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Free Admission

Celebrate the springtime Finnish holiday of Vappu!

Food, Drink, and Balloons

  • 3pm Finnish Folk, Pop, Rock, Hip Hop and beyond with DJ Renttu
  • 5pm Kaleva Dance Ensemble plays live contemporary and traditional music of Finland and sing-a-long

In Finland, Walpurgis day (Vappu) is one of the four biggest holidays along with Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, and Midsummer (Juhannus). Walpurgis witnesses the biggest carnival-style festival held in the streets of Finland’s towns and cities. The celebration, which begins on the evening of 30 April and continues to 1 May, typically centres on copious consumption of sima, sparkling wine and other alcoholic beverages. Student traditions, particularly those of the engineering students, are one of the main characteristics of Vappu. Since the end of the 19th century, this traditional upper-class feast has been appropriated by university students. Many lukio (university-preparatory high school) alumni wear the black and white student cap and many higher education students wear student coveralls. One tradition is to drink sima, a home-made low-alcohol mead, along with freshly cooked funnel cakes.

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