The Flora Day

The Flora Day is the second official celebration of the Student Union of the University of Helsinki. It is the joyful spring festival of all university students, celebrated every year on 13th May at Kumtähti Field in Toukola, right next to Kumpula Campus.

University students have celebrated a spring festival at least from the beginning of the 19th century, and Kumtähti Field was established as the place for the celebration already in the 1830’s.

The celebration in 1848 was as a special day in the origins of Finnish national identity. That year, the Maamme song, which later has received the status of the national anthem of Finland, was sang for the first time by the students gathered in Kumtähti Field. Also an early version of the Finnish flag was used for the first time on that occasion – afterwards, this flag became the flag of the Student Union. So, in addition to being the university students’ spring festival, the Flora Day is now also celebrated as the “birthday” of the Finnish national anthem.

Every year, the Flora Day programme still includes a performance of the Maamme song. All students are welcome to take their own picnic lunch with them and to celebrate both the end of the spring and the birthday of the national anthem with their friends in a relaxed atmosphere. The programme starts at 12 noon. This year also students from the Faculties of Agriculture and Forestry and Philosophy are participating in the more ceremonial part of the festivities, as a part of their conferment ceremony, where Masters and Doctors celebrate the degrees they have achieved.

After 1 p.m. there is a possibility to follow a new element of the celebration – an outdoors sitz competition, where groups of students join in for their own seated meal or “sittning”, including singing and toasts.

Text : Katja Långvik / Student Union of University of Helsinki – HYY
Picture: Veikko Somerpuro