Penkkarit (more formally penkinpainajaiset, "benchpressing est, or bänkskuddardagen ("penkis, penkisdagen") in Swedish) is a yearly tradition among Finnish

upper secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

() students. The event is celebrated in the spring of their final, usually third, year as the final day of school, before the start of the matriculation exams. Traditionally, the date of ''penkkarit'' is a Thursday in late or mid-February.Virkkunen, K. Penkinpainajaiset ennen ja tänään
Pyhäjoen kuulumiset 19.2.2003. Retrieved 9-4-2007.

The origin

Until 1919, the Finnish matriculation exam took place in

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

and was formally the entrance exam of this university. The upper secondary school students who wished to graduate left their hometowns for Helsinki, usually somewhat ceremonially. After 1919, the examination was conducted in schools. However, since the 1920s, the students stop attending classes in February, devoting themselves to solitary preparation for the exams which are held in March.

Celebration

The celebration of the ''penkkarit'' varies from school to school. Usually, the school-leaving students dress as for a masquerade, following a theme decided by themselves. The event often includes following elements *school-leavers visiting the classes of junior students, interrupting the teaching and replacing it with a parody class. *throwing candy at the junior students *visiting lower secondary or primary school, meeting old teachers and throwing candy *singing parodic songs about the teachers *presenting a humorous short film (Finnish: ''abivideo'') to other students at the school hall The ceremonies usually end with the school-leavers riding away from the school on

lorries A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

decorated for the purpose. The design of the decorations is usually a mixture of pride in and insult at their own school. Often, the students then visit the major local elementary schools. In larger towns, the ''penkkarit'' culminate at a parade where the lorries drive across the city at a slow speed, and the final-year students on top of them shouting slogans and throwing

candy Candy, alternatively called sweets or lollies, is a Confectionery, confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, also called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, including chocolate, chewing gum ...

at passers-by. The event is particularly popular among children, who come to the streets to collect free candy. For example, in April 2022 there were more than 4000 local final-year students in individual lorries and trucks that drove the students in around Central

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

.{{Cite web , date=2022-04-07 , title=Penkkarit {{! Tuhannet abit ajoivat penkkareiden kunniaksi Helsingissä – Kuvissa näkyy riemu ja karnevaalitunnelma , url=https://www.hs.fi/kaupunki/art-2000008735413.html , access-date=2022-04-07 , website=Helsingin Sanomat , language=fi

References

Education in Finland Rites of passage Graduation