The 1st of May celebrations: TYYlikäs Vappu 2011!

The 1st of May celebrations: TYYlikäs Vappu 2011!

Every year, The Student Union of the University of Turku (TYY) organizes traditional Vappu celebrations called TYYlikäs Vappu for all the citizens of Turku!

Vappu is a traditional festival for students and labourers marking the end of winter and the beginning of summer. On the eve and the actual day of the 1st of May, the whole of Finland is celebrating a merry carnival!

One of the characteristics of Vappu celebrations are the black and white student caps which many people, young and old, wear as a token of their graduation from senior high school.

The celebrations begin on Vappu Eve, the 30th of April, outside the Turku Art Museum where the TYY choir and the students' brass orchestra Sohon Torwet perform at 5.30 p.m. Just before 6 p.m., the Chair of the TYY Executive Board, Jukka Koivisto, gives a Vappu speech which he concludes by inviting senior high school graduates to put on their student caps.

>From the Art Museum, everyone heads down the Aurakatu to the river to gather around the statue of Lilja (Liljan patsas) near the Aura bridge. Lilja then gets her own student cap at around 7 p.m. with the help of the Student Unions. Before that, the students of Dentistry clean her with their giant tooth brush, Sohon Torwet perform and the three Student Unions of Turku greet the celebrating people.

On the 1st of May, TYY organises a Vappu Picnic at the Vartiovuori hill (at the intersection of Uudenmaankatu and Hämeenkatu) from 10.30 a.m. to 16 p.m. The traditional picnic attracts thousands of people to enjoy good music and other performances with their picnic lunch. Just take a blanket, something to eat and drink and join in! The ones with the best picnic table get a prize! TYY welcomes everyone, student  or not, to enjoy the spring weather and the great atmosphere!

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The Programme:

30th of April:

In front of the Turku Art Museum at 17.30-18.00:
Sohon Torwet
TYY choir
Speech to senior high school graduates (Chairperson of the TYY Executive
Board, Jukka Koivisto)
Putting on student caps

At the statue of Lilja at 18.30-19.00:
Sohon Torwet
Cleaning Lilja (students of Dentistry)
Greetings (the Student Unions)
Putting on Lilja's student cap

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The TYYlikäs Vappu Picnic, on Sunday 1st of May
At the Vartiovuori hill

10.30 TYYn kuoro
11.00 Sohon Torwet
11.45 Puhe keväälle
12.15 Aprillirockin voittaja 2012: Aprillirockin voittaja Bill, Moray & Bill
13.15 Capoeira-näytös
13.45 Yakuzi Pato
14.45 Eternal Erection
The programme ends at about 4 p.m.