last friday was graduation day for many “high school” students in sweden. well, at least in my city. we had a family member (lina’s cousin) who graduated from the music program… and he graduated highest in the school!! the celebrations here are much, much different than how we do it in the states. everything feels much more celebratory here. and the students who are graduating celebrate with dinners, breakfasts, fikas, bbq’s, parties, all week long. then, on graduation day, family & friends stand outside the school building as groups of students (a class = the 25ish students who study in the same program for the 3 years they are in “high school”) run out in their suits or white dresses and graduation caps. they sing a song, do a cheer, and then find their way through the crowd to their families, who are standing & holding a big sign with a picture of the student as a child on it. it’s really a great tradition! and i was so excited to be a part of it (from a family perspective) for the first time!
all other students have closing ceremonies all over the city on the last day of school. one was at the church where i work, so i went to it in the morning before the graduation later in the afternoon. it just so happened that a lot of the youth that i work with and family members were a part of this closing ceremony. so, two birds with one stone. yes!
here are some shots from the day:
and the after graduation tradition… ride around the city in a truck/tractor with music blaring, toasting each other, singing, & yelling. so basically, there are these trucks all over the city all day long. so much fun!
i wanna have a swedish graduation. doesn’t it look like so much fun?!
peace out.
Oh you just gotta love the Swedish and their crazy fun traditions. Ireland used to be much more like that but sadly they’ve been a bit americanised lately. No insult to you of course. But there are more Irish living in the States, Canada and Australia which certainly doesn’t go without influencing their rellies here on the green island…
i was actually surprised when i was there last fall & felt so much american-ness around me. lina & i said that we felt like it was the best of both worlds – a little of the states & a little of europe. we think we could totally live there! 🙂
🙂 you’re welcome to join me on the island anytime…
Fina bilder. Kul att ni var med!
Tack för en fin och trevlig dag! Grattis igen!!
When I was in Stockholm the other week I saw those graduation “trucks” for the first time. Both my friend and I said that it looked like so much more fun than our graduations! Mine was just a formal ceremony at school that everyone was quite happy to get out of at the end…
your sounds like mine… boring and formal. if the weather is right, graduation day seems to be a blast here in sweden! if the weather is right, many many things are amazing here in sweden!