Ode to traditions

Shared festive occasions bring about shared traditions. In this blog post, members of HYY’s Board Venla Lehtinen and Sanni Nieminen reflect on the importance of traditions for communities and on how we can use traditions to foster not only communality but also education, equality, empathy and democracy.

The darkest weeks of the year are now here. This is the time when the light of community must shine the brightest. When we come together to celebrate things we consider important, we often talk about traditions.

We students have many different traditions and symbols that one can encounter during festivities in particular. We wear the student’s cap to mark festive occasions. On May Day, we put on our overalls and head to the Crowning of Manta and Ullanlinnanmäki with our bottles of bubbly. We sing both old and new singalongs at academic dinner parties. Each student organisation has its own traditions that new students are initiated into during their studies.

Traditions have a manifold impact in our society. They create a sense of togetherness and community. They punctuate the year and carry memories and stories that attach us to the chain of generations. Shared traditions help us ensure the construction of a shared identity.

When people want to use traditions and shared symbols as instruments of exclusion and hatred, it is especially important that we celebrate equality, empathy, democracy and the rule of law when observing our traditions. At the same time, we must pause to reflect on how we can continue to retain our values and identify the forces that wish to challenge them. We need to consider what exactly it is that we want to celebrate together.

Just like the student community, the Finnish society also fosters its traditions and festivities. For instance, Finns are keen to watch the Independence Day Reception almost ritualistically year after year. It is thus important that we who cherish education and culture look after our shared national traditions and symbols. If we hand them over to those representing reactionary forces and exclusion, we end up losing a great deal as a nation.

Traditions change along with us. To retain traditions, it is of utmost importance to involve new generations to experience the traditions in their own ways and to challenge any parts of them that have gone stale. The Students’ Independence Day Torchlight Procession, for instance, has changed many times over the years while still retaining its core parts to this day. The procession brings our student community together to celebrate independent Finland, education and equality and to acknowledge the efforts of previous student generations. The procession is led by the flag of Finland. It is followed by HYY’s flag, which boasts a lion surrounded by a laurel wreath. The flag first flew in the Flora’s Day celebration where the Maamme anthem was also first sung. In a way, we thus carry pieces of history with us along with the torches.

Getting together and upholding communality are ways of fostering education and culture. Cultured people understand that they are a part of a broader community. Education and culture embrace the realisation that we are not all alike and that traditions are also diverse. Education is more than just knowledge – it includes understanding, togetherness and connections with other people. It grows from the community, strengthens the community and ensures the future of the community. To paraphrase J. V. Snellman, a civilised people cannot be led astray.

Celebrating things that are worth celebrating – and celebrating education, equality, democracy, empathy and communality in particular – is, above all, a part of responsible citizenship. We wish everyone a very cultured festive period!

Venla Lehtinen
Member of the Board in charge of educational policy

Sanni Nieminen
Member of the Board in charge of events