page_title: Student cap
section_title: Finland
hierarchical_section_title: Student cap / Nordic and Baltic countries / Finland
caption_attribution_description: Finnish physicist Gunnar Nordström in 1900 (left) in middle Gunnar's brother Åke Nordström and in right Gunnar's school friend
context_page_description: In various European countries, student caps of different types are, or have been, worn either as a marker of a common identity, as is the case in the Nordic countries, or to identify the wearer as a member of a smaller body within the larger group of students, as is the case with the caps worn by members of German Studentenverbindungen.
context_section_description: The Finnish student cap (ylioppilaslakki) is similar to the Swedish model. The Finnish student cap has an appearance similar to the Swedish version, but instead of coloured fabric cockade, it has a metallic, gold-colored cockade depicting the lyre of Apollo, the insignia of the University of Helsinki. The cap was introduced in its present form in the 1870s. Until the 1950s, the university students usually wore the cap during the whole summer holiday of the university, from Walpurgis Night till the end of September. Nowadays, the cap is used mostly during 1 May and in academic ceremonies and occasions. The cap is worn by all Finnish high school (lukio) graduates who have completed the Finnish matriculation examination.
  Until 1917, the matriculation examination was the entrance exam of the University of Helsinki, which meant that all high-school graduates were, at least formally, students of the University of Helsinki. In memory of that period, all new student cap have the cockade of the student union of the University of Helsinki. In many Finnish universities, the student union recommends that the students change the cockade to a university-specific one.
  In the late 19th century, the language strife between Swedish- and Finnish-speakers divided the Finnish academia. The size of the cockade was used to signal the student's opinion to the language question: the Swedish-speaking students wore a cockade with a diameter of 22 mm, moderate Finnish-speakers a 16 mm cockade and radical Finnish-speakers a 14 mm cockade. Even today, the Swedish-speakers use the 22 mm cockade, while the graduates of Finnish-speaking high schools use a 16 mm cockade.
  The lining, i.e. the inside, of the cap symbolizes the regional identity of the graduate. Especially in earlier days, the students usually choose the lining to have the colours of their own student nations. Nowadays, the most typical lining is the white and blue, symbolizing common patriotism. However, the Swedish-speaking students usually wear red and yellow, or blue, yellow and white, while in Satakunta and North Karelia, the regional colours are still popular. The Swedish-speaking students in Ostrobothnia use black, yellow and red.
  As in Sweden, the students of engineering usually wear a special student cap (Finnish: teekkarilakki) with a long tassel. However, unlike in Sweden, the crown of the Finnish Engineering student cap is always white and the cap has a gold-coloured, university-specific cockade, except in University of Oulu, where the cockade is program specific. The tassel is always black and worn without any additions. The lining of the engineering caps is dark red, symbolizing the social change brought about by the ever-advancing technology, except in Lappeenranta University of Technology, where Karelian colours, red and black, are used, in University of Oulu, where the student cap has a blue lining, and in the cap of Teknologföreningen, the Swedish-speaking student nation at the Aalto University, with a red-yellow-red lining. The Engineering student caps are worn by present engineering students and graduate engineers on the 1st day of May and in academic ceremonies.
caption: Gunnar Nordström (on the left) with two other high school graduates wearing students caps in about 1900.
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