May Day

May Day is a big event in Finland. It doesn't seem to be about the workers so much as it is about the students. At 6pm April 30, there is a ceremonial 'hatting' of this statue on the esplanade:
There are also parades and demonstrations and general Finnish drunkenness all night.

Then on May 1, everyone in Helsinki goes for a picnic at Kaivopuisto, a big park near the sea. The weather was warm (read: not so cold that it is uncomfortable to be outside in the sun), so it was very crowded this year. This is just a small section of the park:

Kimmo and I had a picnic with our coworker Risto and his wife Laura, their kids Oliver and Aaro, and Laura's brother.



Here is Aaro, wearing his Baby Bans:


And here is Oliver, opening up a beer:


Everyone who has graduated from high school (there are technical schools and things like that starting at 9th grade, so it's less common than it is in the U.S.) wears their high graduation cap, a nautical-looking white cap with a brim. Not everyone who is graduating, but everyone who has graduated. I saw a number of elderly people with hats so old (and likely repeatedly champagne-stained) that they were brown.


Here is another friend, Mikko, showing off the hat:


Also, we were sort of cleaning up and a photographer from the local news station (called MTV3, which confused me for a while -- I thought it was the latest ok-this-channel-is-for-you-people-who-want-to-see-music-videos offshoot of MTV) took our photos. Here we are! (#242 is of me and Aaro, #222 is of the whole group)