Helga´s 8 Day May Day

Why is Helga’s 8 Day May Day organized?

Helga’s 8 Day May Day aims to bring together Haaga-Helia’s students and students from other polytechnics to have fun while maintaining the prosperous student coverall culture.

What is Wappu?

May Day is celebrated annually on 1st of May and marks the end of winter. It is also celebrated as International Labour Day and is one of Finland’s largest festivals alongside Midsummer and Christmas.

The Finnish twist for the May celebrations developed as engineering students celebrated at midnight on 30th of April while rocking their traditional white caps. This method has now become known all over Finland, which has led to celebrations in cities with a large student population.

The festivities begin in Helsinki at 6 p.m. 30th of April, where students gather at the Market Square to wash the statue of a naked woman named Havis Amanda before putting a white cap on her head.

On 1st of May, students and graduates will lead a procession through Helsinki, which will end with large outdoor picnics in the city’s parks. Mead, donuts and sima are traditional delicacies today.

What is Helga’s 8 Day May Day?

Helga’s 8 Day May Day is an annual 15-day event that culminates on 1st of May in Kaivopuisto, where Helga distributes the coverall patches and Wappu diplomas to the participants. Helga’s 8 Day May Day is organized in co-operation with Haaga-Helia’s student associations, and this is why events can be found in both Helsinki and Porvoo.

Helga’s 8 Day May Day name has remained unchanged even while the events (and at the same time days) increase over time. Each day has its own theme as well as its own event. As part of May Day, Helga is organizing the Coverall Baptism as well as the actual May Day event in 1. May with other student unions. Helga also coordinates the 8 Day May Day as a whole, so that each Haaga-Helia association has its own event day, to which all Haaga-Helia students are welcome!

8 Day May Day’s official tags, hashes and hashtags are #Helga8Wappu and #wabueilobu as many of our students already know!

How can one participate in Helga’s 8 Day May Day?

You can participate in the event by redeeming a Wappu pass and attending various May Day events with it. Every event is marked on the Wappu pass and when participating in the event, the student asks for a stamp on their Wappu pass to mark their participation. With 6 stamps collected, the student can redeem a Wappu coverall patch 1st of May from Helga’s checkpoint. There are 4 coverall patches based on different years of performance. The coverall patches consist of one large ensemble to the coveralls. Students who collect the stamp of each event in their Wappu pass will be awarded with the Wappu diploma.

Some events are free and some may incur additional charges. Helga’s Coverall Baptism and the May Day in 1st of May, as well as Helga’s 8 Day Wappu coverall patch belong to Wappu pass. What comes to the actual student associations day’s, the event may be free and the event’s coverall patch paid, or the event may be fully chargeable.

Each participant is asked to be considerate

Like all the other Helga events, Helga’s 8 Day May Day is free of harassment and bullying. This means that any kind of harassment, bullying, humiliating or other inappropriate behavior is not acceptable. If you see or meet any inappropriate behavior we ask you to contact us or the events harassment contact persons. Helga’s events also have event-specific harassment contact persons that you can contact. Also, the members of the Haaga-Helia associations have been trained to assist in such activities.

We wish a joyful Wappu to everyone!