This year, May Day, i.e. vappu, celebrations are a little different due to the coronavirus epidemic. We encourage all our tenants to stay at home on Vappu (30th April and 1st May), as this is the best way for all of us to slow the epidemic down and prevent the virus from spreading. However, this does not mean that Vappu is cancelled: you can celebrate remotely from home. We came up with a few tips for remote celebrations to help you enjoy your Vappu at home to the full.
1. Prepare your home for Vappu
You can create a Vappu-party feeling at home with various decorations, for example. Just a few balloons or some streamers can create a festive feeling before the celebration. A clean home is also a festive home.
2. Reserve Vappu treats for yourself
For many of us, there is no Vappu without the traditional sima mead, doughnuts and funnel cakes. We recommend buying your treats from the store well in advance. Some may have already started making their own sima, but you will have plenty of time to make this mead as late as on the actual day of the celebration with the mead syrup recipe of Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish).
Unica also sells sima and doughnuts at selected restaurants on May Day’s Eve 30 April. For more detailed information, please visit Unica’s website www.unica.fi
3. Get your overalls or cloak ready for Vappu
Do you have student overall badges lying around that are just waiting to be sown onto your overalls or cloak? Nothing creates a better Vappu feeling than having a sewing bee for your new student overall badges. The work goes much smoother if you hold an online sewing party with your friends through a video connection. You should also find your student cap well in advance to wait for the moment you can put it on.
If you wish, you can also take part in the #haalarihaaste (overall challenge) of the Finnish Student Unions. Hang your overalls in a visible place: on the balcony or window in honor of Vappu from Monday 26th April forward until Vappu and show others that you celebrate the biggest celebration of spring!
4. Make a Vappu playlist
You could set up your own playlist for Vappu. Fill the playlist with all the songs that remind your of Vappu or put you in a festive mood. You could even have a little dance party with friends through a remote connection.
There will also be festive music played on the radio. Turun Wappuradio promotes festive feeling as an online radio channel and at the FM radio frequency of 93.8 MHz between 21st and 30th April.
5. Have a capping ceremony or picnic on your balcony or apartment garden
You can also have a capping ceremony or a picnic on your balcony or in your apartment garden. Spread your picnic cloth on the balcony or in your garden and bring your Vappu treats and decorations. If you do not have an apartment balcony or garden, open up your windows or the doors to your French balcony. Say hello to your neighbour and raise a toast together – from a safe distance away!
6. Relax and enjoy this different Vappu
Even though we cannot celebrate Vappu the traditional way this year, it is good to keep in mind that this exceptional situation will not go on forever. This year, Vappu will be a little different and certainly unforgettable – this is the Vappu you will remember even when your old and grey, which may not be true for all other Vappu celebrations. This is not the end of Vappu, a new one will come every year – or, as the Finns say, ‘Wabu ei lobu’!
