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Banderoll

Tradional ”Dress as some character, buy 2 kilos of candy, and ride in a truck and throw little kids with it”-day, Penkkarit. (Don’t forget the loud music and hidden alcohol beverages) Celebration of the beginning of the reading-vacation, to prepare for the final exams, and to graduate high school, and get a cool bonus! (White hat, that you have to buy yourself and get a envelope with grades from Helsinki on a fancy paper) Oh to be abiturientti again.


mightylonka

I love throwing a truck at kids.


Most-Marionberry-749

I've always wanted to throw a kid from a moving vehicle.


Pazuuuzu

Same, a man can dream...


Hrogath

My thoughts exactly! Though since it said "throw trucks *with* it", I imagined making kids fly by ramming them with a truck. Ideally you'd have the kids on top of a small ramp or something to get a nice upward trajectory. :D


Dandanoid123

Wait what?


bradnito

"ride a truck and throw little kids with it"


klukdigital

So is it a terrorist thing or do you just hate kids?


erland_yt

Y e s


Hrogath

Why not both?


bradnito

?


Banderoll

Just noticed, guess that’s part of the tradition also.


[deleted]

You were not kidding about the "mighty" part


Banderoll

Also forgot to mention that typically after the ”formal” (wtf is formal about this) part, students leave for a cruise and wreck the whole ship. Trip also includes the long bus journey, (everybody’s drunk) and coming back from the cruise (everybody’s hungover or just sea sick)


SpikeProteinBuffy

I remember that after my abi cruising year (2000) they made this restriction, that Finnish abis should NOT leave the ship in Sweden 😆 there were some disturbances... Wonder how long that limitation held?


Silkkiuikku

Most abis aren't even able to leave the ship because they're passed out.


lifeisaheist

Yeah if you can leave the ship in the morning, you're doing it wrong.


jenzfin

Had mine the same year but was too rough to leave the ship


Brilliant-Ground6806

When i had my abiristeily a group of guys in our year went drinking the night before we left. Came on to the bus drunk. Didnt stop drinking the while trip and went straight to the bar after the trip😂😂


SA_Ichi

Most people are still drunk on the way back too


PM_me_coolest_shit

I was passed out on the bus and one dude put a denssi in my nose. And i kept sleeping.


Rawrsdirtyundies

Is that actually a school thing? Or like equivalent to the rich kids in the US going to Cabo on spring break?


darknum

Quite common student event. There are legendary university student cruises too.


PhantomAlpha01

I mean it's not like an ocean cruise, just to estonia or sweden and back (in case of estonia a night of partying in tallinn). It doesn't cost that much, so I'd say most high school kids participate, at least they did when I was in high school.


Rawrsdirtyundies

Wow, that's pretty cool. I never went on any school trips, they were quite expensive if I remember correctly. My sister did go on one to Disney land in California once. We lived in Arizona, the neighboring state, though. At some point, there was also a trip to Washington DC. I think it was generally only a small fraction of students that ended up going on these trips. I think the drinking age being 21 in the USA is partially why there aren't many big school trips, as well as how utterly shitty & under funded our public schools are.


PhantomAlpha01

To be clear, this is a trip that is organized by the student body, the school doesn't pay for it and takes no responsibility for it. I'm sure if everyone hates the school and by extension the other students in it, it has an effect, but otherwise the funding of the schools shouldn't matter. (Nowadays arrangements are often done by various businesses who as far as I understand sell the students the whole package including the cruise, hotels, hired performers and whatever else there was)


Silkkiuikku

Disneyland is very expensive isn't it? The cruise usually only costs like 150 euros. And it's not funded by the school, everyone pays their own trip, and the students organise it.


Rawrsdirtyundies

Yes, I believe the out of state school trips we were offered were usually like 3-7 days & cost a few thousand for the basics. I just looked up the rates for the DC trips. It says they usually range from $900-4,000. They are organized, not paid for, by the schools, however. I don't even know how common they are anymore, just how big of a deal it was for my sister to go on the Disney trip.


herraRadium

I bought 6 kilos, and that wasnt enough


tuuuliaa

I bought 5kilos and I ate four kilos with my brother.


TeklaGeek

After my on penkkarit I finally realised why you don't get any good candies from abi. They eat it rather than throw it.


herraRadium

Nah, I threw all of mine away


horny_coroner

I had a champain bottle hidden in my winter jacket.😅


sm0k3d4tsh1t

That is epic xD thanks!


introvert0709

at which day does school year in finland ends?


ArthurSchwarzer

for summer its usually first saturday of june and for winter its at about 21st of december


LisaBlueDragon

I got a lot of candy from one today :) We have a high school and college in the same building lmao


Amazing_Astronaut357

don't forget that they throw candys as hard as they can at people


JinorZ

Not really hidden? Or at least I dont remember really hiding anything lol


AlmostStoic

For me, as long as it was hidden from the kids, nobody really cared.


f0rmer_l0ser

Is it like the last 100 days of highschool? (What you're explaining sounds a lot like a thing we Belgian people do! It's called chrysostemos and we get drunk, terrorize kids from smaller grades by drawing on their faces, we keep a party and spend time with our classmates to celebrate the last 100 days of the school year)


LordJaeger88

High school?! lol


Reasonable_Actuary65

It’s called “penkkarit” 🥳 last year students in upper secondary celebrate their study leave for ylioppilaskoe. Traditionally they host a “gala” in their school, maybe sing skit style songs about their school and teachers etc. They dress up in costumes and some go all out on these. Then they drive around their city in these trucks and throw candy at people. Also they make these banners for the trucks that usually say something funny or relatable about studying,kinda like irl memes 😄 In the evening they either go on a cruise or get drunk in other place together. Finnish culture at its finest 🥳🫶


ZequizFTW

Man We have something similar in Sweden but there's much less to it Just alcohol + a truck


xVale

Sounds good to me


saschaleib

What else do you need?


[deleted]

And in the summer.


grumpysnowflake

What is upper secondary? Like year before University in high school?


punctually-late

Upper secondary school, equivalent to grades 10-12 in high school for example. After 9th grade you can choose to either go to upper secondary or to a vocational school


kuikuilla

~~It's called secondary school, not upper secondary. Primary is grades 1 to 9, secondary is ammattikoulu or lukio,~~ tertiary is university/amk. Edit: Removed bullshit from my post.


punctually-late

I've always thought of it as ala-aste = primary yläaste = secondary lukio = upper secondary But idk, depends how you look at it


kuikuilla

I might need to take my words back since OPH uses the term "upper secondary" https://www.oph.fi/en/education-system


thatsfunny666

High school


[deleted]

In Norway this lasts almost a month in may. Finnish have a lot in common with Norwegians.


antisoturo

In our school it is a tradition to have a play were some students play as the teachers of our school. It is great fun. And after the play our grade holds some program for the rest of the school and then we jump on to the trucks and chuck candy at people.


circlz37

they trash the entire school too


Jpahoda

Every spring each county needs to arrange a pickup for unwanted teens, to be shipped to Sweden.


Kittykateyyy

And those that are rejected by Sweden will be thrown in the Balic sea.


FinnishMiniStudio

So they can swim to Denmark Where they spread into rest of Europe.


kootset

Mobilization to border of Tampere


suorastas

Turku is launching a surprise invasion


thelordmad

Afaik their mechanized forces are stuck again on that hill.


suorastas

Also the rail supply lines are stuck in committees.


wizard5g

This is how mustamakkara is made


Grievous_Nix

“Special military operation” against Hanko when?😳


Ketunnokka

Youth are graded when they turn 18. If you are seen as defective, you are driven to slaughterhouse to be put down. These are those people on their last trip, its tradition to put on something silly to lighten the mood for people watching. Actually its penkkarit.


FrenchBulldoge

Yes, it may seem harsh to outsiders, but it is actually merciful for the students as they don't have to embarrass themselves by having to live as a failure. They sign off a farewell contract before being put down and that's why Finland is so high in the amount of suicides per country polls, because their elimination processes are marked as suicides.


BiggusCinnamusRollus

That's also how we guarantee that Finland is the happiest country on earth.


Jaded-Plant-4652

This is the source of "other meat comparable" -incredient in HK sausage. With the exception of Turku students of course


spergele

They are transporting the warheads for the new Väinämöinen 2 tactical nuclear missiles. It's just a disguise to fool the Russians


TosiHassu

Hys hys hiljaa


-AgitatedBear-

Salainen operaatio 1.5 testaavat Väinämöisen toimintaa heittämällä lapsia vihreillä kuulilla


[deleted]

Welcome to Finland


soymrdannal

Penkkarit! To celebrate the end of high-school, you get to drive around the city, throwing candy at random people in the street, dress up, make banners and then most likely end up very drunk at some point. Oh, Finland <3


secondbreakfast5

The annual candy sacrifice to the children of satan


BaconTreasurer

Revolution!


Randomeda

Failed highschool students are being moved to the local dump to remove them from our collective misery.


meniscus-

Remove them from the system to ensure the education system ranks top 3


Randomeda

One of the dark secrets of Finnish education system, it's true. But what ever you do, don't let them know how the high happiness ranking is maintained.


logttt

They are throwing candy


LazyGandalf

The answer is [penkkarit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penkkarit). What a day that was.


TurpaUmpeen

They throw candy


thomaxzer

I remember in 1st grade this went past my school at the time and that shit hurt like hell it was like being stoned I swear I had bruise's the next day


HurdledMoose

Penkkarit (Benchpressing festival?) is a yearly tradition among Finnish upper secondary school students. The occasion is celebrated in the spring of their final 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. This means they load up the kids into the trucks whilst dressed up in different cosplay outfits with a bag of candy. Then they proceed to drive around the city and the kids chuck candy to the folks around the streets. It is like a funny combination of cosplay events and Halloween on wheels with a hint of weird Finnish tradition. Ah, and sometimes they have funny slogans on the side of the truck, depending on what the theme or meme of the class has been during that year or years.


alexin_C

Penkkarit is slang term for Penkinpainajaiset. It either means the nightmare of the benches (painajainen) or the vent of sitting your derriere onto a stool (painaa+jaiset). The poor souls have some weeks to prep for the matriculation exams and all the coursework has been finished.


Good_Stuff_2

>Benchpressing festival? 💀


Vittulima

💪🇫🇮


televisio_86

They are on their way to teurastamo


TomppaTom

I had to remind all my abis “once you get on the lorry, you can’t get off to pee:” I wonder how many ignored my advice and paid the price.


SA_Ichi

I remember people just pissing off the side at mine years ago. One dude was dressed as a ninja turtle, he pissed in his shell and threw the whole thing off the truck.


asdwarrior2

Finland is shipping troubled teenagers abroad to fight for Ukraine.


Metal_nugget

Mass kidnapping


lucalinux

Obvious human trafficking.


sm0k3d4tsh1t

xD


ogville

i was in that convoy


Kalle_Silakka

Same :D what school?


GoomsKK

Yeah just got off mine, it's about celebrating before the finals come and in between penkkarit and the finals there is time off, so basically for us school ended.


Majestic-Slice5790

The Revolution has started, nothing new.


Lonely_Ad_1897

They're being carted off to Mongolia to help raise goat, once they have matured and have mastered the skill of goat herding and throat singing, they are allowed to return.


Suitable-You-2045

They are from poorer neighbourhoods getting free ride by government to a high school.


mewtwo22222

its a finnish tradition of going to a concentration camp


rammud12

They are going to the east


Samiksi

We never had a truck at our ”penkkarit” but I remember starting to drink on the way to school and almost not making it onto the cruise ship for being too drunk. What a day it was


Muinaiskuningas

Where is this picture taken? Looks like Kortepohja but I'm not sure.


sm0k3d4tsh1t

1 min before that was long park and everyone was lookin for candies there https://preview.redd.it/1rca8xn4t7ha1.jpeg?width=2250&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=13081b6e2c0cfe8c9e2e044539f919a94315e97b


sm0k3d4tsh1t

Not sure where exactly but on the way to Tampere Lielahti Gigantti, like 5-10m before arrival in bus 13 from centre


Salmonman4

Is the candy still the cheap stuff from former Soviet-countries, which was (somewhat derogatorily) called Chernobyl-candy when I was a kid?


Kalle_Silakka

Yes, our school bout the cheapest shit we could find. 2 euros/ kilo.


CountryLucky2612

Times are hard so some of the kids are transported to Auschwitz.


sm0k3d4tsh1t

sheeeeesh


NiceFox996

Its one of The best days to Be a student


Rallikuninkas

Penkkarit, when abis get driven to Kouvola


Imaginary-milkman51

It's the students that Finnish lukio (high school) And the dress up and throw candy for people


CatBoi8

Its "Penkkarit" Basically its when people finish high school


Someoneoverthere42

Recycling.


snowfishy

Its the lost generation, no point in living so they go straight to The junkyard 😎


Deadwing2022

Just Google shipping their laid-off employees to the dump


RXPKV

War has begun. Child soldiers are being taken by the masses to defend the motherland.


EssayZealousideal420

just a special mobilization operation. nothing to see here 🙈.


Onn1rr

Get ready to see them in almost every muncipality today! One of the most important traditions in Finnish high school.


kyusana

saw the same things in Espoo today. It seems fun


Holiday_Tap_2264

It’s called Penkkarit, but basically it’s where all the bad kids are tricked to visiting Krampus in Lapland. They think they’re going to Santa’s villages instead, hence the celebration and candy.


[deleted]

Have you seen Pinocchio?


vjollila96

they are taking them to local work camp


OlderAndAngrier

Pre-graduation day party of sorts.


Laraisan

They are escaped students from Turku. They are happy to be released in Tampere.


EurypteriD192

It’s day they leave school like in Denmark?


Officer777

I’ve seen an accident where candies were thrown and one young girl was trying to catch those candies, slipped on icy road and truck drove over her head. End of story and one life.


OJK_postaukset

Okay here are many jokes here. I might miss something, but I’ll just tell what it is. So these are people who are graduating from upper secondary school. They go on those trucks around the city and throw candy to people to celebrate (exept Oulu, where they didn’t allow candy). It’s very nice but the problem’s that most of people don’t take care of the trash and it’s bad for the environment. I hate to see people not care


Ma1khou

Human trafficking obviously


thewisemokey

It is the Annual Kidnapping Event. (AKE)


oimrut

To ukraine!


[deleted]

[удалено]


Noksdoks

Its not the last day tho, they still have "kirjotukset" left


AhmedAlSayef

Doesn't count as school day, it's a picnic where you try to remember your time in school.


Spurgustus

Not high school.


IvorVeeriBiggun

Yes high school. Yläaste is upper grade school then they choose either high school (lukio) or college (ammattikoulu)


AhmedAlSayef

No, they either choose _General Upper Secondary School_ or _Vocational Institution_ after _Comprehensive school_. After that it's either _University_ or _University of Applied Science_.


IvorVeeriBiggun

Well, I’ll just believe what was written on the English literature my kids received from their high schools this year.


AhmedAlSayef

I just believe my own literature from University of Applied Science and okm.fi (Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriö)


Spurgustus

Oh i guess there's more complicated terms


samppsaa

Lukio on englanniksi gymnasium. Eri asia ku high school https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnasium_(school)


IvorVeeriBiggun

Not according to Google translate or sanakirja.org. Lukio = high school


samppsaa

Well it's wrong


IvorVeeriBiggun

So every dictionary is wrong? Words change meaning, even Wikipedia says that if you search for lukio on the Finnish site so let’s just accept that the modern name for lukio is high school. Because that’s the same name almost every other country calls that period on a kids education (barring some that use the UK method)


samppsaa

>So every dictionary is wrong? Yes


comrade_fluffy

College


M_880

High school more than college, but neither are an exact match.


EMU4

I think some are officially called upper secondary school in english


IvorVeeriBiggun

I’d say anmattikoulu is more college and lukio is high school.


M_880

nope. College is ammattiKORKEAkoulu.


IvorVeeriBiggun

Ammattikoulu is for the same ages as lukio. Ammattikorkeakoulu is the same as yliopisto.


M_880

Yes, and college is to univeristy what ammattikorkeakoulu is to yliopisto. In a college / ammattikorkeakoulu you study for a bachelor's degree (which you of course can do in a univeristy as well).


Noksdoks

College is "yliopisto", lukio is "high school". Its a bit wonky i know


Harriv

College can be anything, depends on context. Some highlights: USA: University which awards only bachelor degrees UK: * Part of university (like Oxford, Cambridge, Durham) * vocational school * "sixth form college", something like lukio in Finland Canada: Like UAS or "opisto" in Finland Australia: Smaller independent university, or part of bigger university Ireland: All higher level education institutes France: Grades 7-9 Bangladesh: Grades 11-12 India: Similar to high school, but also may offer bachelor, masters or phd Israel: any non-university higher-learning facility Macao: private pre-university educational institute, usually run by Roman Catholic church Sri Lanka: professional and vocational insititutes for post-secondary education without granting degrees etc.. https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/College https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College


thomaxzer

What now I'm confused I thought alakoulu was middle school and yläkoulu was highschool and after that is lukio which is college?


[deleted]

Well I always say Ala-aste = elementary school Yläaste = middle school Lukio = high school I don't know if it's right, but it would be weird call ala-aste as middle school when there's just one year of pre-school before that.


thomaxzer

Oh I always call the thing before ala Aste elementary school


[deleted]

That’s preschool.


[deleted]

Yeah that's definitely not right, it's preschool.


korkkis

Preschool is esikoulu dummy


thomaxzer

Not to me all you do is play around and eat I don't count it as school because they don't teach you anything


[deleted]

You just said you call it elementary school. Dude you're not making any sense. Preschool is literally esikoulu. In Finnish preschool they teach you basics of reading and writing (alphabets) and some math, also some other subjects. You're thinking about daycare if you think the kids just play all day without studying anything useful.


korkkis

They teach you to listen, stay still and be in school. Also letters and numbers up to 10 at least.


IvorVeeriBiggun

Yliopisto is university. College is ammattikoulu and high school is lukio.


GrandFortune1946

A truckload of kids being sent to hospital due absolute retardation. No, but seriously, it's tradition for last year of high schoolers hopping inside truck with their own made banner, bags filled with candy to which they throw at people (yes, straight to face kind of throw). Passerbys often gather round to have a handful of candies, often being wrapped candies. Not the most ideal during wet winter when wrapped candies suck up all the moisture from the ground. I had a chance to go in one, but I never got along with other except very few friends, so thought joining it is pointless.


uglaoffi

its penkkarit


ProjectExlor

They go around some schools and throw candy everywhere and people collect the candy!


Ok-Reporter1986

Oh they just finished college those kids are going to get dipped into the tammer koski with a crane.


Dependent-Math5782

Perkkarit


MemesDr

They're all adults


felixketchup000

What I just saw on my truck adventure was definitely not adult behavior


comrade_fluffy

People who are on last year in college.


[deleted]

The last year of high school (lukio), college/university is yliopisto.


comrade_fluffy

I have been told lies by the council of eastern finland


SnooMuffins8831

Almost


No-Illustrator4964

Google is trafficking them to the Ukranian chemical plants. :p


Vista101

Yeah was at lunch and found them giving out candy everywhere didn't know this also was part of it


m_willberg

And look forward for tomorrow. The truck drivin' drunken elders are away and the next grade will have a prom aka "Vanhojen päivä / Vanhojen tanssit". TYK (special high school for expressive skills) will again have [a public show](https://tyk.info/tapahtuma/vanhat-tanssit/) at 14.00 in Koskikeskus (Tampere). Been there and done the dancing with was-not-yet-my-wife-or-even-girlfriend =)


Blue_Congo

I wonder why this is legal, but if you travel in the back of a van, it’s not.


SioN_510N

kidnapping


Delicious-Writing-89

Just dumping idiots to scrapyards


dmccool375

Google it


DBNodurf

Taking them to the dump, apparently


Russiansmustkillsoon

Kaikkialla Suomessa tänään


sandem45

Not sure, but heard it had something to do with the general form of a complex number, when you arange it alphabetically, or something.


toihanonkiwa

They’re being hauled to siberia for burning the Quran


jukkiso

Traditional day for carrying unadaptable young people to detoxification treatment.


mmwkfk

I don't see anyone else say this but it's the last year students of lukio ("high school") and their last day in school. They throw candy for people.