If there’s one thing that signals the start of the (6 week) Danish summer school holidays for me, it’s the sound of blaring music, car horns, singing and cheering. Danish high school kids are graduating this week and (surely you know what’s coming next?) there’s a quaint Danish tradition attached! 😉
After the graduates are sent off with an 8am singsong (dimission) in the school hall, they head outside and start decorating trucks…
Lots of greenery and the all-important Danish flags…
I think we need more balloons over here, please!
And why is it that it’s always the girls who get left to doing the decorating? Hmm… (And, yes, yes, young Danish girls are all very tall and skinny.)
One of the most important things is the banner on the side of the truck. Which tells you which class and high school the students graduated from. And what the students will do if you wave to them or give them a toot from your car. The banner on the truck above reads “1 Toot, we drink. 2 Toots, we finish the glass. 3 Toots, we’ll give you a flash.” And these Danes keep their promises…we saw several bare bottoms last year!
Once the trucks are decorated and the beer crates are loaded on board, it’s time for the graduates to climb aboard (there’s a little ladder at the back) and drive around the neighbourhood or into the city. Not for an hour. Not for the whole morning. For the whole day. Singing and waving at passers by and motorists. Who are only too glad to wave back and toot. Moi included. In fact, sometimes I actually follow the trucks around for a bit – it’s not often you get the chance to toot until your heart’s content…
The trucks make stops at each student’s house along the way, where proud parents/family/friends/neighbours are waiting with (yes, more and more) flags. A toilet stop and a bite to eat…
And more drinks…
And so on and so forth until it’s the wee small hours of the next morning, the trucks finally grind to a halt, the tooting stops, the speakers are unplugged, everything is a bit blurry and we can all finally get to sleep!
Tillykke, tillykke!
Diane 🙂