VAPPU/MAY DAY, MAY DAY

Today is May Eve.
      The weatherman is promising fine, warm weather.
      The police are girding their loins, or whatever police do on occasions like this.
      May Eve and May Day - known collectively in Finnish as Vappu - constitute one of Finland’s most boisterous and profusely liquid festivals and public holidays, and will also mean that the International Edition does not appear tomorrow, Thursday.
      We will be back on Friday, although conversely the Finnish print newspaper will appear on Thursday, but not on Friday.
     
If you live in Finland, you will almost certainly know what Vappu is all about, but do please remember that shops and banks will not be open on Thursday owing to the holiday. The all-important Alko liquor stores will close at 18:00 today, so the magic ingredient for the annual event should be acquired by then, if that is you can get served for all the queues.
      Sales of champagne and sparkling wine go skyrocketing at this time of year.
     
Bus and train services will also be affected - there will be additional services late on Wednesday night for revellers heading home, but Thursday will see Saturday or Sunday schedules in force.
      Some tram and bus lines in the capital will face diversions on both days, because of the crowds downtown.
      It is a good idea to check from the Finnish Railways (VR) or Helsinki City Transport (HKL) websites below.
     
This year there is a special celebration, as one of the central characters in the Helsinki Vappu revels has a birthday. She is the cute and unclothed (except for her white cap, worn once a year) statue of Havis Amanda in the Market Square.
      Ville Vallgren’s rendition of not one but two nubile French maidens - reputedly 19-year-olds Leonie Tavier and Marcelle Delquini both posed for the work at different stages of the process - is 100 years old this year.
      Thousands will turn out at 6 this evening to wish her many happy returns and see her given the traditional student cap.
     
Those who are blissfully unaware of what Vappu is all about can perhaps turn to the old but still fairly serviceable article from the early days of the International Edition for an explanation of the annual rituals.
      Certain details may have changed, but the party is much the same from one year to the next, and the almost inevitable hangover doesn't get any easier.
     
     
     
Movie tickets for empty bottles
     
     
The City of Helsinki, in collaboration with Helsingin Sanomat, will be arranging a clean-up operation in Kaivopuisto Park after the May Day celebrations there.
      As an incentive to get the place tidy, anyone collecting 20 champagne bottles (that is EMPTY champagne bottles - and sparkling wine will do as well) will get a movie ticket voucher, paid for by Helsingin Sanomat, when taking the empties to an Alko collection point.
      The collection point for empty bottles will be located midway along Iso puistotie in the park.
      The "bottles for tickets" operation will be open for receiving empties from 10:00 on Thursday and will continue as long as there are ticket vouchers left. A total of 1,300 tickets are available, which means around 26,000 empty bottles.
      The clean-up campaign is being arranged for the fourth time.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Cold but sunny weather as Helsinki celebrates First of May (2.5.2007)
  Riot police battle crowds throwing stones and lighting fires on May Day Eve (2.5.2006)
  Vappu (an article from 2000; some details may have become obsolete, but you get the general idea. Most of the links have broken with time)
  Nearly two thousand naked and adrift in Helsinki (19.8.2002)

Links:
  Havis Amanda (Wikipedia)
  Some more about Walpurgisnacht/Vappu/May Eve from Wikipedia
  Finnish Railways (VR): Commuter Traffic
  Finnish Railways (VR) Long-Distance Trains
  Helsinki City Transport (HKL) Details (in Finnish) of Vappu bus and tram schedules
  Finnish Meteorological Institute