Students tobogganing down the steep hill of Ullanlinnanmäki on Shrove Tuesday in Helsinki on February 21, 2023. Photograph: TONY ÖHBERG/FINLAND TODAY / Click to view the gallery.
“These things are cursed. Perkele!”
The cold cabinets containing beer, cider and seltzers at a corner store near Kaivopuisto in Helsinki’s Ullanlinna district are all turned off in solidarity with the rising energy costs.
The students in blue overalls resort to grabbing energy drinks from one of the only cabinets that seems to be switched on.
“Do you have your ID with you?” the cashier asks one of the students, a woman with bottle-bottom glasses.
“I haven’t been asked for an ID since the ‘80s,” the woman mutters.
“Well … we do have to check. … ”
After complying, the student bolts out of the door, pops open the can, takes a swift sip and disappears into a crowd of around 1,000 other students, some holding lonkeros and beers in hand, others drinking and tobogganing down Ullanlinnanmäki in freezing weather with plenty of snow on Shrove Tuesday.
Here in Kaivopuisto—the famous park for its crazed May Day parties —students of higher learning from The School of Electrical Engineering; The School of Engineering; The School of Chemical Engineering … and others have gathered again to celebrate Shrovetide, laskiainen, after the pandemic broke the tradition for the past few years.
But now there’s a stage where the most innovative tobogganists receive awards and celebrate by showering sparkling wine on the front row of students. A man behind his laptop presses the Enter key, and drum ‘n’ bass tunes echo loud and clear from gigantic speakers while people sitting on sliders of all shapes, colors and sizes continue darting down the hill.
They laugh. They tumble. They drink.
Vilma Kamthunzi, 20, an interior architecture student from Helsinki, arrives with a group of friends just before the show is over. She, along with her friends, carries a red, round speed slider with handles on the sides. One of her friends sits down on the slider, which resembles a giant saucepan lid. Vilma gives it a push, but her friend moves only a few meters.
It’s Vilma’s turn. She runs and jumps onto the speed slider. It gets stuck in the snow, and Vilma rolls down the hill.
“I should have brought a real slider instead!” she exclaims.
In any case, these folks have, once again, found the spirit of laskiainen.
