May Day is right around the corner and you can already see the party-minded people wearing overalls in the streets. In student life traditionally, the May Day celebrations start a week or two before the main day itself, and student organizations organize various events in the few weeks before May Day. We asked the organizations what kind of traditional events they have during May Day celebrations.
Adaptus ry
Adaptus organizes a “Munkkei ja simaa” event in its own Chamber (in Medisiina A) close to May Day. The event is usually organized in the middle of the day and lasts a few hours. In the event, donuts are indeed available and “sima” and maybe some other traditional May Day foods are offered. Students from the Faculty of Nursing Sciences, faculty staff and Taja ry and Tehy are invited to the event. At the event, you can meet fellow students, the department employees and employees of advocacy organizations in a relaxed mood.
SYY – Turku
During the May Day celebrations we work closely with Index ry, the umbrella organization for social sciences and educational sciences. We will do our best to participate in Index's events and try to get a SYY person to appear in the events. The SYY representative is dressed as a superhero wearing a pink full-body suit and a cape. The superhero educates the participants about the membership benefits of the professional association YKA. Every year we also organize the “Trivial perseet” checkpoint race together with P-Klubi. In addition, we participate in the TYY May Day Punch event, where we distribute overall badges and other promotional material of the Higher Education Association.
EGEA Turku
Egea Turku Ry's traditional first of May is a festive event that brings together members of the organization and the community to celebrate the arrival of spring. The event usually includes participating in TYY’s annual First of May punch (“boolitus”) and EGEA Turku Ry’s own activities such as BDC (Beer drinking contest). The atmosphere is lively and cheerful as people enjoy the company of friends.
EGEA Turku Ry’s punch has traditionally been the colour of orange with a fresh spring-like taste of secret ingredients. This year you can find us at University Hill and participate to the tasting of this year’s delicious punch. But come in time, the punch tends to disappear quickly!
After that you can participate in BDC, which is a drinking contest where participants compete in two teams to find out who is the quickest to empty their cups in relay- type of race. The rules are easy to catch on and it is up to you what drink is in your cup.
Let's get festive together,
T-Klubi
Freshers have always been part of T-Klub's May Day traditions. At freshers, new students, also called “possut” (piglets), are promoted as “siat” (pigs). This means they become so called “capitalist pigs”. This initiation includes several tasks that freshmen must complete. Unfortunately,
information about the tasks cannot be leaked to the public in order to maintain secrecy. Freshers as a tradition is an important part of T-Klubi ́s May Day. They bring each years bew students together and create cohesion. Getting initiated is an essential part of the student experience of every member of T-Klubi. Other subject organizations representatives have described T-Klubi's freshers with the words "brutal", "disgusting" and "pig-like". However, I myself fondly remember my own initiation, and how much fun I had. Without it, you are a “possu” / piglet, regardless of your study year.
Our current chairman is also uninitiated...
In Vitro Aboensis (IVA)
May Day is a special and happy holiday for students, and IVA has already celebrated it in traditional ways for several years! IVA celebrates May Day with barbecues, hang outs and other various events. We also celebrate May Day in interdisciplinary ways, for example May Day barbecue with dental students (THLKS Ry) and nursing science students (i.e. Adaptus Ry), in our subject organization ́s offices. On May Day Eve, IVA has traditionally offered punch at TYY's May Day ball punch event at Yliopistonmäki and after that we continue the celebrations with good barbecue food at the office among the people of Iva.
May Day culminates with giving a student cap for the statue of Lilja on the Taidemuseonmäki among other students. You can recognize as from the bright yellow overalls! On May Day, we spend a relaxed time at TYY ́s picnic on Vartiovuorenmäki with good food, drinks and fellow students. This year we also organize May Day sits, and the May Day week starts with an interdisciplinary rainbow party.
Looking forward to the May Day celebrations!
Student Nations
The student nations in Turku have well known May Day traditions: the culinary faculty working under SKO prepares doughnuts, shortbread or meringue. SHO's SUAMi club, on the other hand, watches MacGyver- series as a drinking game. In the week before May Day, something happens every day, for example, the outdoor season opens with grilling in front of the YO-houses or even around the “spugenotski”.
The joint parties of the departments on May Day are already a long-standing tradition. There the most deserving new members are appointed as “superbeans”. Weather permitting, On May Day, we gather for a picnic to meet seniors and to celebrate the beautiful spring and the coming summer.
OPEX
The spring of Opex culminates on the beginning of the May Day week and the celebrations lasts until the May Day. There are events every day of the week. The most popular events we organize are definitely the “Lähiöpubikierros” (lähäri), Barn dances and Jokilaiva sits.
On Monday, Opex travels around Turku and the surrounding areas on two different buses, stopping in many great pubs. The after party is organized in Doris. On Wednesday we travel to Nousiainen, where different bands entertain our students with great music in a barn. We travel there by shared transportation. There is good food available at the event! On Thursday we organize the Jokilaiva sits on our partner Rekom's riverboat, Jenny. This event has also been
very popular, although it is a fairly new tradition. The whole week culminates in the May Day
dances on Sunday. Opex gathers in front of Educarium and Publicum together with Index. There is great music played by bands (for example I/O Speksi), good punch and many different stalls where you can buy for example overall patches. After this most people head towards the city center and Taidemuseonmäki to see the giving of the student cap to the statue of Lilja. The next Monday, waking up might feel a bit difficult. Despite this you can definitely spot people with white overalls in
Vartiovuorenmäki, even though they might be taking a nap.
WE <3 TURKU AND VAPPU