The most obvious thing about Vappu Päivä was drinking and eating. Wherever I turned in the two days that it lasted, people were drinking alcohol and stuffing their faces. My  block of flats changed from Finland into how I imagine Italy. Almost everybody was on their balconies for much of the evening, chatting loudly, getting drunk, playing music, grilling meat, generally enjoying the evening. Hard to believe that only a few months earlier it had been minus 20, dark by four, and going on the balcony was a serious health hazard. Now people were eating outside. They were doing it in parks, in their back gardens, and by the sea front. What was this all about?

The answer, I started to think, might be that Vappu Päivä represented a kind of religious hangover. Vappu Päivä is the Feast Day of St Walburg, an English nun who lived from 710 to January 779 and to whom various miracles were accredited. She was made a Saint on 1^st May 779, and when countries like Finland were made Christian, St Walburg Day replaced the original Pagan celebration just as Christmas replaced Yule.

For the Pagan world, 1^st May was a very important celebration, the day on which a sacrifice was made to the Goddess of the Forest. Sacrifice was crucial: Gods watched over the earth and had to be kept happy. People sacrificed firstly, because if you gave something to the Gods, they’d have to give you something in return such as a good harvest. Secondly, the Gods were basically people. Having a meal with a person creates a bond between you, and the same is true of having a meal with a God. So sacrifice would have involved partying and feasting as well as actually sacrificing an animal.  1^st May was originally about feasting and drinking, to please the Gods, in the open air. Fast-forward to May 2006 and Finns are, at the very least, still feasting al fresco – a hangover from the days of Pagan Sacrifice and meals offered to a God or to celebrate a saint.

Vappu Päivä can also be understood as what is called a ‘Liminal Phase’ or ‘Rite of Passage.’ Arnold van Gennep, a Belgian anthropologist, argued that life was divided into clear phases – childhood, middle-age, old-age. When you moved between the two a ‘Rite of Passage’ (a ritual) was required. Specifically, he said that the year was divided into seasons and rituals were needed to move between the seasons. Victor Turner, an English anthropologist, took all this much further. He said that Rites of Passage were a liminal (transitional) phase and that during these phases there was communitas, a loosening of society structures as they relate to social class and behaviour and also a feeling of togetherness. Others criticised this, saying that during some Rites of Passage they found evidence of the opposite: that the hierarchy of society was found in an exaggerated, over-the-top form in ‘liminal’ rituals such as pilgrimage.

How does this relate to Oulu on 1^st May? Well, Vappu Päivä is ‘liminal,’ a time of change between the cold months and the warm months. It is broadly controlled by society: it is part of the Finnish national calendar, it is a national holiday. There are TV programmes involving President Halonen and the Finnish flag flies from every flag pole. And there is a strong sense of communitas. Order seems to break-down. Everybody takes the day off. They get drunk together, have picnics, have parties, buy the same balloons and ice-creams. So on the surface, there is communitas, a loosening of hierarchy and a sense of being all Finns together. But at the same time, Finnish society structure reasserts itself in a very exaggerated way.

Many who have graduated from High School wear their white caps. This is a minority who have been to the more academic school that prepares them for university. In Finland a university education seems to be very important. From a foreign view-point, it seems like you are nothing without an MA degree. So wearing these caps, which they do not normally do, is an exaggerated way of bringing order back into a disordered day  –  it creates boundaries between those who can wear the caps and those who cannot. Also, arguably, by looking a bit silly, people in caps are expressing power. In many societies those in power dress in showy ways: look at England’s judges and their ridiculous wigs or academic doctors and their comical top hats. Many anthropologists argue that this is a way of expressing that they can get away with looking silly, because people are too scared to challenge them. They can look silly because they are important.

A lot of university students went even further in the silly stakes, wearing the caps and also coloured overalls – clearly marking themselves out, in a society that prizes education, as the ‘educated ones.’ This  divide was further seen as students congregated, drank, put a hat on a public statue and even watched as engineering students slid, many naked, into the river. But even in communitas, order reasserted itself. Engineers marked themselves as ‘different’ with black tassels on their caps. It would be interesting to see if Swedish-speakers celebrate the day differently from Finnish-speakers and thus express their sense of difference. A friend of mine guesses they might make a point of eating and drinking slightly different -more cultured- food and drink.

Those who are perhaps not so especially educated also marked themselves out in an exaggerated way. In Oulu, the Social Democratic Party made speeches and sang socialist songs in the town square. Most of their audience were elderly and, noticeably, most didn’t wear the white cap. On one level, Vappu Päivä involves everyone being Finns together; on another it is clear and exaggerated reflection of, essentially, social divisions. In this sense, Vappu Päivä’s rather like any tribal initiation rituals from Ndembu of Zambia to the Dinka of Sudan.

My first ever Vappu Päivä was certainly interesting. But, if my colleague is right, I’m amazed that so little research has done into the event by anthropologists. It is anthropology in so many ways – a modern sacrifice, a hangover from the days of sacrifice, a Rite of Passage in which Finland is equal and yet very divided. Most Finns probably don’t think that wearing their caps is way of reasserting order in a time of chaos and expressing power, nor when they drink Lapin Kulta is making bonds with the Gods high on their agenda. But if Oulu is a tribe, Vappu Päivä is perhaps Finland's nearest thing to a blood sacrifice. There should be a lot more written on it by anthropologists in Finland. It's